Mexican Standoff Ends, Abbott Lifts Inspection Policy

As we reported on April 7, Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX), as part of his “Operation Lone Star” program, had begun “enhanced safety inspections” of all commercial vehicles entering Texas from Mexico. The stated objective of this program was to identify defective or otherwise unsafe vehicles that might also be carrying illegal aliens or drug contraband. This was the proffered rationale in spite of the fact that most illegal traffic occurs between official ports of entry anyway–in the mountains or desert and along the rivers, and, moreover, the likelihood that smugglers would persist in sending across illegals in defective vehicles after been forewarned was slim.

The stated objective aside, what the affair really was just another way that Abbott gets light thrown on the ongoing border catastrophe. And in this case, light he certainly threw. In mere days the inspections slowed commercial traffic to a virtual crawl, causing a 60% drop in commercial traffic and a short-lived “Mexican standoff” between Abbott and his opposite numbers in his Mexican neighboring states.

The standoff began to crumble in Abbott’s favor almost immediately. First to halt the inspections by agreeing to their own inspections was Nuevo Leon, whose nine-mile-long border is the shortest of the four. Then, in quick succession, similarly agreed the governors of the other three:  Chihuahua, Coahuila, and finally Tamaulipas.

With his actions, Abbott incurred the wrath not only of the White House (again), but every business group and trade association and labor union in the U.S. along with every one of those Mexican governors who eventually capitulated.

A favorite cry out of the Biden administration is that Abbott–as with this episode and with his “busing-illegals-to-Washington” plan, another of his Operation Lone Star initiatives –is engaging in political stunts.

Abbott looks upon what he does as taking necessary action, when no one else will. He points out that although no illegals were found, unsurprisingly, the inspections did reveal that almost 25% of vehicles entering Texas from Mexico “were unsafe for Texas roads and were removed from service.”

Most important is that Abbott again called attention to a problem that Washington doesn’t just ignore but actively worsens day by day.

The problem: we have a wide-open border where thousands of strangers from all over the world are getting through every day, while the White House cheers. That’s the problem.

For more, see the Texas Tribune.