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A2 UP FRONT
Thursday 14 april 2022

Continued from Front cross the Pharr bridge on a
The Mexican governors of normal day, according to
Coahuila and Tamaulipas, the National Freight Trans-
which both border Texas, portation Chamber. The
also sent Abbott a let- bridge is the largest land
ter calling the inspections port for produce, such as
overzealous and "creat- leafy green vegetables,
ing havoc and economic entering the U.S.
pain" on both sides of the Mexico supplies about two-
border. thirds of the produce sold in
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS Texas. "We're living through
UPDATE. AP's earlier story a nightmare, and we're al-
follows below. ready suffering through a
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — One very delicate supply chain
of the busiest trade ports on from the pandemic and to
the U.S.-Mexico border re- try to regrow the business,"
mained effectively closed Arevalo said.
Wednesday as frustration The additional inspections
and traffic snarls mounted are conducted by the Tex-
over orders by Texas Gov. as Department of Public
Greg Abbott requiring ex- Safety, which said that as of
tra inspections of commer- Truckers block the entrance into the Santa Teresa Port of Entry in Ciudad Juarez going into New Monday, it had inspected
cial trucks as part of the Re- Mexico on April 12, 2022. more than 3,400 commer-
publican's sprawling border Associated Press cial vehicles and placed
security operation. more than 800 "out of ser-
Since Monday, Mexican part of "unprecedented Judge Richard Cortez, video showed aerial shots vice" for violations that in-
truckers have blocked the actions" he promised in re- whose county includes the of the Colombia port of cluded defective brakes,
Pharr-Reynosa Internation- sponse to the Biden admin- bridge in Pharr. "You're talk- entry upriver from Nuevo tires and lighting. It made
al Bridge in protest after istration winding down a ing about billions of dol- Laredo and images of no mention of whether the
Abbott last week directed public health law that has lars. When you stop that Mexico authorities inspect- inspections turned up mi-
state troopers to stop and limited asylum-seekers in process, I mean, there are ing trucks. He said Mexico grants or drugs.
inspect trucks coming into the name of preventing the many, many, many, many would implement "specific Jerry Pacheco, executive
Texas. Unusually long back- spread of COVID-19. people that are affected." checkpoints" on Thursday director of the International
ups — some lasting 12 hours But critics question how the The shutdowns and slow- "to show that there is not a Business Accelerator and
or longer — have stacked inspections are meeting downs have set off some of single trailer carrying any of president of the Border In-
up elsewhere along Texas' Abbott's objective, while widest backlash to date of the two issues that we know dustrial Association, said
roughly 1,200-mile (1,930-ki- business owners and ex- Abbott's multibillion-dollar worry him." The disruptions the protests were costing
lometer) border. perts complain of financial border operation, which at some of the world's busi- businesses millions of dollars
The Mexican government losses and warn U.S. gro- the two-term governor has est international trade ports a day.
said that Abbott's order cery shoppers could notice made the cornerstone of could pose economic and "It's going to affect all of us,
was causing "serious dam- shortages as soon as this his administration. Texas has political threats to Abbott, all of us in the United States.
age" to trade, and that week. thousands of state troopers who is seeking a third term Your car parts are going
cross-border traffic had Frustration is also spreading and National Guard mem- in November. Democrat to be delivered late, your
plummeted to a third of within members of Abbott's bers on the border and has Beto O'Rourke, the former computer — if you ordered
normal levels. On Wednes- own party: Texas Agricul- converted prisons into jails presidential candidate a Dell or HP tablet, those
day, White House spokes- ture Commissioner Sid Mill- for migrants arrested on who is running against Ab- are going to be disrupted."
woman Jen Psaki called er, a Republican, called the state trespassing charges. bott, said during a stop in Ed Anderson, a professor
Abbott's order "unneces- inspections a "catastrophic Abbott warned last week Pharr on Tuesday that the at the McCombs School of
sary and redundant." policy" that is forcing some that inspections would inspections were doing Business at the University of
The gridlock is the fallout trucks to reroute hundreds "dramatically slow" border nothing to halt the flow of Texas at Austin, compared
of an initiative that Abbott of miles to Arizona. traffic, but he hasn't ad- migrants and were worsen- the disruptions to those
says is needed to curb hu- "I do describe it as a cri- dressed the backups or port ing supply chain issues. caused by February's truck-
man trafficking and the sis, because this is not the shutdowns since then. The He was joined by Joe Are- er blockade in Canada
flow of drugs. Abbott or- normal way of doing busi- governor planned a press valo, owner of Keystone that forced auto plants on
dered the inspections as ness," said Hidalgo County conference for Wednes- Cold, a cold-storage ware- both sides of the border to
day afternoon in Laredo. house on the border. He shut down or scale back
Due to the religious holidays, Aruba Today will not In a video posted to Insta- said that although Texas production.
be published on (Good) Friday, April 14th, Satur- gram, Nuevo Leon Gov. troopers have always in- Anderson said consumers
day, April 15th, and Monday, April 18th, 2022. We Samuel García said he spected some trucks cross- would likely begin noticing
will resume our regular printing schedule on Tues- planned to meet with Ab- ing the border "they've the effects by the end of
day, April, 19th, 2022. bott on Wednesday and never, ever, ever held up a this week, if not sooner.
We thank you for your support. reassure him that "he has complete system or a com- "Either prices are going to
Keep Safe! no reason to worry over plete supply chain." spike or shelves are going
drugs, nor migration." The An estimated 3,000 trucks to be low," he said.q