Mexican truck drivers halt trade at border in protest of new Texas law increasing inspections

At a crucial South Texas border crossing, commercial traffic came to a stop on Monday as Mexican truckers blocked both north- and southbound lanes on the Mexico side of the Pharr-Reynosa International Bridge.

The truckers made the move in protest of GOP Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s choice to have state troopers inspect all northbound commercial vehicles, which has typically only been done by the federal government.

The bridge that connects Pharr and Reynosa is the single busiest trade crossing in the Rio Grande Valley, and it handles the majority of the produce that heads into the U.S. from Mexico, which includes avocados, broccoli, peppers, strawberries, and tomatoes.

On Monday, as the trucks became backed up for miles in Reynosa for the fifth day in a row, several produce importers in Texas noted that they’ve been waiting for days for their orders to arrive. They added that some buyers have canceled their orders already. 

“One of our customers canceled the order because we didn’t deliver on time,” said Modesto Guerra, who is the sales manager for Sterling Fresh Inc. That corporation imports broccoli from Central Mexico through the Pharr bridge before sending it to the Midwest as well as the East Coast. “It’s something beyond our control.” 

The Biden administration recently announced that it will be ending Title 42, which is a pandemic-era health measure that allows federal officials to turn migrants away at the border without giving them chance to request asylum.

In response, Gov. Abbott on Wednesday ordered the Texas Department of Public Safety to up its inspections of incoming commercial vehicles, which he noted drug cartels have used to smuggle humans and drugs into the country.