Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) said on Friday that there were no longer any secondary inspections of trucks crossing into his state from Mexico, announcing the end of a policy that had created multi-mile backlogs and that critics alleged had cost them millions of dollars in losses because key trade routes had ground to a halt. The announcement came after Abbott said he had reached agreements with a number of Mexican officials to improve border security. The new Texas-led inspections went into place in the last week, but they were decried by White House officials, who said the trucks were already inspected by federal officials and that inspecting the same trucks again by state officials created huge traffic jams. The traffic jams were expected to soon lead to food shortages and price spikes, among other things. Abbott claimed that he was lifting the requirement because Mexican officials had agreed to new security measures. He was under tremendous pressure from business groups to back down because of major delays in deliveries, particularly as fruit and vegetable produce sat at risk of spoiling. It is unclear how long it will take for the backlog to clear and traffic to normalize along the border.
