Texas-Mexico border blockade ends, added inspections continue
After a week of disruptions along the Mexico-Texas border, truckers on the Mexico side of the Pharr-Reynosa International Bridge ended the blockade on Wednesday afternoon, according to Customs Border Protection.
The blockade began after days of extreme wait times to cross the border from Mexico into Texas. The delays were caused by an extra inspection enacted by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott in response to President Biden’s decision to end Title 42 expulsions.
Title 42 allows for the expulsion of undocumented asylum-seekers along the Mexico border. It was enacted by former President Trump during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The additional inspection caused up to 30-hour wait times to cross the border. The delays created a huge backlog of fresh produce, according to a statement by the International Fresh Produce Association.
“In turn, produce that was destined to U.S. consumers, in some cases, will have to be destroyed because of the perishability of our products,” Robert Guenther, chief policy officer at the association, said in a news release Wednesday. “The result could mean millions of lost economic production in Mexico, Texas and other border states now experiencing similar delays.”
The additional inspections continue, but traffic is flowing, albeit slowly. Some industry sources say the ramifications of the governor’s action and commercial traffic delays will be felt for weeks or more to come.
“If the inspections stopped today, it would take over a week for the supply chain to return to normal,” Lance Jungmeyer, president of Fresh Produce Association of the Americas, said in a letter to the governor on April 9. “Unfortunately, the loss of inventory and sales will never be recovered, and these losses are a direct economic loss to Texas companies.”
The action disrupted the heavy pull of produce for the Easter holiday by U.S. retailers, making the economic impact greater than normal for some.
“Our industry is in the midst of the ‘Easter pull’ when grocery stores are ordering products for the holiday," Dante Galeazzi, president of the Texas International Produce Association, said earlier this week. “The execution of this extra inspection order has wreaked havoc up and down our supply chain.”
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