Another trucker protest blocks US border–this time in Mexico

Months after a trucker protest opposing Canada’s COVID-19 mandates blocked the country’s largest border crossing to the United States, a different protest in Mexico has blocked another U.S. border crossing. The crossing in question, the Pharr-Reynosa International Bridge, has been blocked since Monday. Other border crossings have seen backups lasting 12 hours or longer.

The Mexico trucker protest is response to an order Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) announced last week directing the state’s Department of Public Safety “to conduct enhanced safety inspections of vehicles as they cross international ports of entry into Texas.”

“These inspections should begin immediately to help ensure that Texans are not endangered by unsafe vehicles and their unsafe drivers,” Gov. Abbott said in the order. “The cartels that smuggle illicit contraband and people across our southern border do not care about the condition of the vehicles they send into Texas any more than they care who overdoses from the deadly fentanyl on board.”

Not even a week into the inspections, the Mexican government said Abbott’s order was causing “serious damage” to trade and that cross-border traffic had plummeted to a third of normal levels. Business owners and experts have warned U.S. grocery shoppers could notice shortages as soon as this week.

The trucker inspection order is one of several steps Abbott announced he would be taking in response to President Joe Biden’s approach to illegal immigration, specifically his decision to end Title 42. In another step, Abbott directed “the Texas Division of Emergency Management (TDEM) to begin coordinating the voluntary transportation, to Washington, D.C. and other locations outside the State of Texas, of migrants released from federal custody.” On Wednesday, Abbott confirmed the first bus made it to Washington, and a second bus is on the way.

“As the federal government continues to turn a blind eye to the border crisis, the State of Texas will remain steadfast in our efforts to fill in the gaps and keep Texans safe,” Abbott said in a news release. “By busing migrants to Washington, D.C., the Biden Administration will be able to more immediately meet the needs of the people they are allowing to cross our border. Texas should not have to bear the burden of the Biden Administration’s failure to secure our border.”