Mexico President Slams Texas Governor For Additional Border Truck Inspections, Will Send Diplomatic Note To US

Mexico's President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has slammed Texas Governor Greg Abbott for enforcing additional truck inspections, which has led to major delays in the border.

The president said Monday that he will be sending a diplomatic note to the United States in order to protest against Texas for additional inspections, noting that it was a "very irresponsible" decision, the New Haven Register reported. The president pointed out the delays were "severely affecting" the trade between the borders.

"We are going to send a diplomatic note today to protest the Texas governor's attitude of putting up obstacles to free transit on our borders without any reason, but rather with political motivations," Obrador said, AP News reported. "He is using the immigration issue to play politics."

The Texas Department of Public Safety said the additional investigation of trucks filled with goods started on Sept. 19, as they crossed El Paso and Del Rio, Texas, "to deter the placement of migrants and other smuggling activity" and find unsafe vehicles.

Mexico's national freight transport chamber, on the other hand, shared Sunday there were 19,000 trucks stuck at the border, adding these vehicles were carrying goods worth $1.9 billion.

President of the transport association of Ciudad Juarez, Manuel Sotelo, had disclosed on Sept. 25 that there were almost 8,000 trailers stuck at the Mexican side of the border since the week before, revealing those trucks carry goods worth $1 billion.

Sotelo also said many factories in the Mexican city of Ciudad Juarez have suspended production, where around 9,000 people work.

The United States border authorities temporarily stopped processing cargo at one of El Paso's international bridges and moved the authorities to check migrant arrivals. There are at least 500 northbound trucks crossing the border every day and out of these trucks, 40% of them carry cargo.

Mexico's National Migration Institute shared that from January to September, Mexico had deported over 788,000 migrants to their respective countries. Mexico and the United States signed an agreement last month in order to deport migrants present at the border cities, back to their home countries.

Mexico will also be coordinating with Customs and Border Protection and Ferromex to ensure that migrants were deported via land and air. The country will also negotiate with Venezuela, Brazil, Nicaragua, Colombia, and Cuba governments to make sure that deportation was successful.

The migration towards the United States is happening due to violence, inflation, and lack of economic opportunities in migrants' respective countries.