Texas officials clamp down on border in El Paso
EL PASO, Texas — Officials in Texas took steps Tuesday to all but close an international crossing in El Paso, as state police began conducting commercial vehicle inspections of trucks entering the country.
The move resembled one ordered by Gov. Greg Abbott this spring, an effort that resulted in traffic jams that interrupted the flow of goods into the United States, with lines of trucks stretching back miles into Mexico. In protest, some Mexican truckers created a blockade to further impede traffic and seek an end to the Texas inspections.
Abbott presented that effort as a way to pressure the Mexican government to do more to stop migrants and smugglers from trying to cross the border. He ultimately lifted the inspections after securing broad promises to increase enforcement from local Mexican state leaders.
But the efforts of Abbott and the promises of Mexican officials do not appear to have had much effect.
El Paso has in recent months become a main destination for illegal crossings.
Over the weekend, Border Patrol agents recorded more than 7,000 migrant encounters, including with a group of around 1,000 people who came over together Sunday in one of the largest single crossings in the city.
The situation has provided a possible preview of the difficulty that border communities could face with the end of a pandemic public health policy that allowed for rapid removals of arriving migrants.
Until October, the policy did not apply to Venezuelans, for diplomatic reasons, which meant that most Venezuelans were released into the United States pending their immigration hearings. The policy, known as Title 42, still does not apply to Nicaraguans. It is set to expire next week.