It reversed its course on Friday night after a week of intensifying reactions and fears of deeper financial losses. Abbott, a Republican, said he had reached an agreement with officials from four neighboring Mexican states, including Nuevo León, Chihuahua, Coahuila and Tamaulipas, to improve border security and thus remove the controversial against humans and drug trafficking, he had said. “As we speak at the moment, all these bridges are reopening for normal traffic. “And so, all the goods that were going from one country to another at a very fast pace, are moving at that fast pace as we are talking at the moment,” Abbott said at a news conference on Friday. “It simply came to our notice then [illegal] “We will strategically close some bridges across the border,” he warned. Some truckers said they waited more than 30 hours to pass. Others blocked one of the busiest shopping bridges in the world in protest. Abbott, who is running for re-election in November and has made borders his top issue, has completely lifted inspections. The latest cross-border agreement to resolve the dispute was signed with the governor of Tamaulipa, who earlier this week said the inspections were too zealous and wreaked havoc. On Friday, he joined Abbott and said they were ready to work together. When Abbott first ordered the inspections, he did not say that their lifting depended on such arrangements with Mexico. Last week, he ordered state authorities to conduct “enhanced security checks” on vehicles passing through Texas through Mexico, in what he described as intensifying efforts against human trafficking and smuggling across the US-Mexico border. The governor said his new policy “sent a message to both the president and Congress: Texas is tired of being the docking point for illegal immigrants crossing the border.” However, shortly after the policy was implemented, many Mexican truck drivers blocked border bridges in response, as many disapproved of the policy. Although 25% of the vehicles checked were removed from the roads as a result of defective brakes and other malfunctions, drivers and business groups argued that the policy had led to traffic jams at ports of entry and resulted in supply chain disruptions. “I get paid the same whether I need an hour or 10 hours to get through, so that affects us a lot,” said Mexican truck driver Raymundo Galicia, noting that he and his colleagues would aim for more bridges if delays continued. According to the Texas International Product Association (Tipa), about $ 150 million worth of fruits and vegetables were trapped at the border, which included limes, tomatoes, cucumbers and mangoes. “After the Easter weekend, consumers will see the shelves of stores without certain items,” said Tipa CEO Dante Galeazzi, adding that the Midwest and East Coasts are likely to face food shortages first. Earlier this week, Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller warned that the policy and subsequent exclusion would lead to higher food prices, most likely raising avocado prices to $ 5 a piece. “Some retailers, especially those in the grocery industry, have experienced supply chain delays as a result of extended waiting times at the Texas-Mexico border,” John McCord, executive director of the Texas Retail Association, told Bloomberg. The White House had condemned Abbott’s policy, saying it had brought “significant” disruptions to supply chains. Earlier this month, Abbott announced that he was going to send undocumented immigrants from the southern border to Washington, DC. The announcement was met with bipartisan criticism that prompted Abbott to soften his plan, as he later clarified that any transfer from Texas would be entirely voluntary only after a person had been processed by the US Department of Homeland Security for release. .
