Enhanced border inspections resumed at the Texas-Mexico border over the weekend in a “political” move that’s causing serious disruptions for truckers and companies.
The Texas Department of Public Safety resumed enhanced inspections over the weekend, causing wait times of up to eight hours to get from Mexico to the US at the Ysleta port of entry in El Paso by Monday, April 29th. As of 11 a.m. on Wednesday, May 1st, commercial trucks were waiting five hours to get into the US.
The move has reduced truck traffic by 10% since it began on Saturday morning, and industry experts say it is causing issues across the entire supply chain.
“You can imagine what it is to be a supply chain manager when something like this happens. It just creates major havoc in the entire supply chain,” said Jerry Pacheco, president and CEO of the Border Industrial Association, to Fox 44.
“The worst thing is it’s uncertain when it’s going to end. You can’t even plan for this. It completely disrupts our cross-border trade.”
“Whenever Texas DPS has done this, they never found anything substantial on trucks coming across the border,” Pacheco said. “It is a political thing; it’s Austin picking on El Paso.”
Texas has reportedly implemented secondary inspections in tandem with surges in migrants crossing the border.