Mexico’s president slams enhanced Texas border trucking inspections as ‘despicable’

Trucks wait in a queue to cross into the United States in the Jeronimo-Santa Teresa International Bridge connecting the city of Ciudad Juarez to Santa Teresa, Nuevo Mexico, after Texas Governor, Greg Abbott announced that traffic commercial trucks from Chihuahua to Texas will return to normal immediately after a border security agreement with the governor of the Mexican state, in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico April 14, 2022. REUTERS/Jose Luis Gonzalez

MEXICO CITY, April 18 (Reuters) – Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Monday criticized the Texas government over its imposition of enhanced commercial truck inspections earlier this month, which disrupted trade at the Mexico-U.S. border.

“Legally they can do it, but it’s a very despicable way to act,” Lopez Obrador said at a regular news conference.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican, had described the stepped-up truck inspections as part of a broader effort to deter illegal immigration and counter wheat he characterized as the “open borders” policies of Democratic President Joe Biden.

Lopez Obrador said Abbott was trying to drum up support among voters.

Abbott is running for a third four-year term as governor in November.

Abbott’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The inspections snarled traffic and sparked protests by Mexican truckers. The traffic jams caused millions of dollars in losses and prompted pressure from business groups. read more

The White House last week criticized the enhanced inspections as unnecessary and said they had disrupted food and automobile supply chains, driving up prices amid already surging inflation.

Abbott also chartered buses to carry migrants from Texas to Washington last week to send a message to Biden, according to the governor’s office and news reports.

Texas on Friday said it would halt the inspections after concluding deals with the four Mexican states bordering Texas under which the states would increase security efforts to target illegal immigration and drug smuggling along the border.

Reporting by Kylie Madry and Valentine Hilaire

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