Greg Abbott's redundant inspections that cost Texas billions in losses find nothing, zero, nada

It is simply untrue to say that right-wing Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s political stunt that forced commercial vehicles to undergo redundant inspections and cost his state $4 billion in losses turned up nothing. The Texas Tribune reports that state inspectors cited a couple of hundred drivers for minor infractions that included under-inflated tires and oil leaks. So there, naysayers!

Oh, you want to know if Abbott’s political operation turned up any migrants or drugs, which was supposed to be the whole point of this disastrous scheme? The short answer: No. Zero, per official state data.

RELATED STORY: Angry over Mexico’s remarks, Abbott threatens to reinstate stunt that cost state $4 billion

The Texas Tribune reports that in addition to those minor citations, officials “took 850 trucks off the road for various violations related to their equipment.” But no migrants, or drugs. The Texas Department of Public Safety director tried to claim that this is proof that the scheme actually worked, and that cartels were scared away by their checks.

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But Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) Director for Defense Oversight Adam Isacson explained that that’s unlikely, given that “many illegal drugs smuggled into the United States are hidden in small compartments or spare tires of people’s vehicles going through international bridges for tourists.” As KHOU-11 reports, Isacson says “if smugglers were trying to hide illegal drugs in a commercial truck, it’s most likely federal immigration officials found them before the trucks were directed to the DPS secondary inspections.”

This is a good moment for this reminder: As Republicans have been weirdly angry about the Biden administration seizing huge amounts of drugs at ports of entry, they’ve also voted against funding for screenings and upgrades at ports of entry.

The fact is that Abbott’s stunt was an economic disaster that cost Pharr, the site of one of the busiest land crossings in the country, roughly $200 million every single day in losses. The Perryman Group, an economic consulting firm in the state, estimated that Abbott caused the nation roughly $9 billion in lost gross domestic product. Republicans love to own the libs even if it means jabbing themselves in one eye, so the electoral consequences remain to be seen. We do know that Abbott faced intense opposition on this policy from his own party.

But even though he caved on this disaster after 10 days, Abbott has since threatened to reinstate the policy. Not because of some imaginary threat, but because he got mad at criticisms from Mexico’s president. 

In ending this stunt, Abbott had touted agreements with a number of Mexican governors. “But three of the four Mexican governors said they will simply continue security measures they put in place before Abbott ordered the state inspections,” The Texas Tribune reported. Mexican President Andres Manuel López Obrador questioned whether Abbott had any authority to engage in international agreements in the first place. Abbott didn’t like any of that, so he claimed he has “the capability at any time” to resume his unnecessary secondary inspections, Houston Chronicle reported. 

“Abbott just single-handedly cost us $4.2 billion,” tweeted Democratic challenger Beto O’Rourke. “Let’s make him pay the price.”

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