DPS officers have conducted “enhanced commercial vehicle safety inspections” since April 6 at seven ports of entry—Brownsville, Los Indios, Pharr, Laredo, Eagle Pass, Del Rio, and El Paso. Texas has 28 land ports of entry with Mexico.
Significant slowdowns were recorded at the Pharr-Reynosa International Bridge, with the wait time increasing up to 4 hours, according to real-time data captured on the Customs and Border Protection website. Laredo and Brownsville bridges experienced the same. Wait time is recorded from when a vehicle passes the Mexican toll gate until it clears U.S. customs.
The DPS inspections are occurring on state roads just beyond the ports of entry, which backs-up the line into Mexico.
By end of day April 9, DPS had inspected 2,390 commercial vehicles, of which 552 were placed out of service “for serious safety violations to include defective brakes, defective tires and defective lighting,” according to Lt. Christopher Olivarez, DPS spokesman for south Texas.
“Also 73 commercial vehicle drivers were placed out of service. The total number of violations detected thus far is 8,244.”
“It’s kind of like a Mexican standoff,” said Todd Bensman, national security fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies.
“I don’t think there’s any doubt but that it’s causing pain. And it’s going to cause more pain. So, it’s anybody’s guess what’s going to happen,” Bensman told The Epoch Times.
He suggests three possible outcomes. One, Abbott will relent and stop the inspections; two, the Biden administration will sue the Texas government to stop the inspections; or three, Mexico will decide to enforce its own borders from illegal immigrants, much like when it took action in 2019 when Trump threatened to impose tariffs.
Dealing with illegal immigration is “an expensive, time-consuming proposition for the Mexicans. It’s not normally in their interest to do it,” Bensman said.
“One way or another, if [Texas] keeps this going for another week, the presidents of both of these countries will have no choice but to get involved.”
Abbott directed DPS to start conducting the inspections in a letter to the agency’s Director Col. Steven McCraw on April 6.
“In response to this threat, which is projected to grow in the coming months, I hereby direct the … DPS to conduct enhanced safety inspections of vehicles as they cross international ports of entry into Texas.”
Border Patrol agents are preparing to process up to 18,000 illegal immigrants per day along the southwest border once Title 42 ends.
In the past six months, 1 million illegal immigrants from 157 countries have been apprehended at the southern border, according to Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz.