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Abbott Border Vehicle Searches
Could Be Fatal for Hispanic Vote
Capitol Inside
April 12, 2022
Governor Greg Abbott may be killing himself with South Texas voters by gumming up the economy in that part of the state with a dramatic boost in commercial vehicle inspections in border cities where trucks are backed up for 20 or 30 miles and waiting for days to cross international bridges.
Abbott boldly predicted last week that he would win more than half the Hispanic vote in a November duel with Democrat Beto O'Rourke in a bid for a third term as the top Texas leader. A Texas Hispanic Policy Foundation poll in March found that to be pipe dream for all practical purposes. The survey showed O'Rourke leading the Republican incumbent by 18 points among likely Hispanic voters with 54 percent in the Democrat's corner.
Democratic challengers Mike Collier and Rochelle Garza led Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick and Attorney General Ken Paxton by 23 points and 25 points respectively in the TxHPF poll that was taken from March 18 to March 28 on fights for the second and third most powerful statewide positions here. Rice University political scientist Mark Jones, the poll's director of research and analytics, offered a gloomy assessment on Tuesday on Abbott's potential to carry the Hispanic vote this fall.
“The survey results suggest the likelihood of Abbott winning a majority of the Hispanic vote in the fall is extremely low, but it’s possible that Abbott could win a majority of the Hispanic male vote in November,” Jones said.
Abbott's odds for success among Hispanic men and women could be plunging as a consequence of the commercial vehicle searches that he has the Department of Public Safety conducting at border ports amid fears of a migrant invasion with the Biden administration's repeal of the automatic expulsion policy known as Title 42.
The governor ordered the state police inspections in tandem with an announcement on his plans to send migrants to Washington D.C. in buses and airplanes. They got under way on Friday with calamitous results - and Texas border towns been immersed in increasing chaos and turmoil amid concerns on the devastating that political maneuvering could have on the local, state and national economies.
The DPS blockades could have the most severe effect on the automobile industry - with scores of maquiladora plants that make auto parts unable to deliver their products in a timely fashion. Grocery stores in Texas could start seeing empty shelves with countless amounts of perishable food going bad in trucks that are backed up for 36 hours in some cases before being allowed to enter Texas.
The Abbott inspections have the potential to spark layoffs in border areas while intensifying supply-chain problems across Texas and the entire nation.
There's been no word from Abbott or the DPS on the fruits of the border traffic stranglehold like the number of migrants who've been discovered hiding in trucks that have crossed the Rio Grande. Abbott hasn't sad how many migrants have been boarded on charter buses or flights to Washington D.C. at this point.
more to come ...
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