Nuevo Leon and Texas Agree to Increase Border Security in Exchange for Texas Stopping Enhanced Inspections

"Socalj" for Borderland Beat

An agreement has been reached between Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Samuel García, the Governor of the Mexican State of Nuevo Leon, regarding the delays at the border crossing.

Governor Greg Abbott met with Nuevo León Governor Samuel Alejandro García Sepúlveda at the Colombia Solidarity International Bridge in Laredo to discuss challenges along the Texas-Mexico border. Following their meeting, Governor Abbott and Governor García signed a memorandum of understanding between the State of Texas and the Free and Sovereign State of Nuevo León to enhance border security measures that will prevent illegal immigration from Mexico to Texas and improve the flow of traffic across the Colombia Solidarity International Bridge. The agreement goes into effect immediately.

"Texans demand and deserve an aggressive, comprehensive border security strategy that will protect our communities from the dangerous consequences related to illegal immigration," said Governor Abbott. "Until President Biden enforces the immigration laws passed by Congress, Texas will step up and use its own strategies to secure the border and negotiate with Mexico to seek solutions that will keep Texans safe. This historic memorandum of understanding between Texas and Nuevo León is a major step in the Lone Star State's efforts to secure the border in the federal government's absence.”

This memorandum comes after Governor Abbott directed DPS to conduct enhanced safety inspections of vehicles crossing international ports of entry into Texas ahead of an anticipated rise in cartel-facilitated smuggling upon the Biden Administration's decision to end Title 42 expulsions.

In addition to announcing the memorandum of understanding between Texas and Nuevo León, Governor Abbott noted that governors from Tamaulipas, Coahuila, Chihuahua, as well as the Chief Officer for the North American Unit at the Mexican Secretariat of Foreign Affairs, have been in contact with the Office of the Governor and the Texas Secretary of State about signing similar memorandums.

Governor Abbott also demanded that President Biden secure the border and called on Texans to contact their federal elected officials to maintain Title 42 expulsions, aggressively enforce the Remain in Mexico Policy, and demand President Biden enforces immigration laws passed by Congress.

Points of the Memorandum of Understanding Between Texas and Nuevo Leon

1. The States will work cooperatively to ensure that vehicles crossing an international port of entry meet the safety standards applicable in each State.

2. The States will work cooperatively to reduce the cartels' human trafficking and smuggling of deadly fentanyl and other drugs across and between ports of entry.

3. The States will work cooperatively to stem the flow of migrants from over 100 countries who illegally enter Texas through Nuevo Leon.

4. Nuevo Leon has begun and will continue to enhance border security enforcement measures on the Nuevo Leon side of the border, both at ports of entry and along the Rio Grande River, to prevent illegal immigration from Nuevo Leon into Texas.

5. The States will work cooperatively to restore the border-crossing inspections process to allow crossings at a faster pace.


The full memorandum can be viewed HERE.

Governor Greg Abbott had announced the first in a series of aggressive actions by the State of Texas to secure the border in the wake of President Biden's decision to end Title 42 expulsions.

Texas Inspections Caused Border Traffic Delays

The delays came a week after Abbott announced stricter border security measures and ramped up inspections in light of Title 42 lifting in May. One of the busiest trade ports on the U.S.-Mexico border closed Tuesday as frustration and traffic snarls mounted over new orders by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott requiring extra inspections of commercial trucks as part of the Republican’s sprawling border security operation.

"The Biden Administration's open-border policies have paved the way for dangerous cartels and deadly drugs to pour into the United States, and this crisis will only be made worse by ending Title 42 expulsions," said Governor Abbott. "With the end of Title 42 expulsions looming next month, Texas will immediately begin taking unprecedented action to do what no state has done in American history to secure our border. The new strategies announced today and next week will further strengthen our already robust response to the Biden border disaster, and we will use any and all lawful powers to curtail the flow of drugs, human traffickers, illegal immigrants, weapons, and other contraband into Texas."

Governor Abbott had also directed DPS to conduct enhanced safety inspections of vehicles as they cross international ports of entry into Texas. This directive was made in anticipation a significant rise in cartel-facilitated smuggling via unsafe vehicles upon the end of Title 42 expulsions.

What is Title 42?

At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic with international travel restricted, on March 20, 2020, under pressure from the White House of former President Donald Trump, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a mass migrant expulsion order under a legal provision that came to be known as “Title 42.” The order told border officials that they could expel people seeking safety in the United States without giving them an opportunity to explain their fears, even though U.S. law guarantees the right to seek asylum, and prohibits sending people to places they will be persecuted or tortured.

In early March 2022, a federal court in D.C. issued a unanimous ruling in a case brought by the ACLU and partners challenging Title 42 expulsions. The court recognized the grave dangers faced by those subject to Title 42 and ruled that it is unlawful for the government to expel people without first ensuring they will not be returned to torture or persecution.

The court also forcefully questioned the policy’s public health justification, noting that it “looks in certain respects like a relic from an era with no vaccines, scarce testing, few therapeutics, and little certainty.”

Border Traffic Protests & Violence

Since Monday, Mexican truckers have blocked the Pharr-Reynosa International Bridge in protest after Abbott last week directed state troopers to stop and inspect trucks coming into Texas. Unusually long backups — some lasting 12 hours or longer — have stacked up elsewhere along Texas’ roughly 1,200-mile border. Not even a week into the inspections, the Mexican government said Tuesday that Abbott’s order was causing “serious damage” to trade and that cross-border traffic had plummeted to a third of normal levels.

The gridlock is the fallout of an initiative that Abbott says is needed to curb human trafficking and the flow of drugs. But critics question how the inspections are meeting that objective, while business owners and experts complain of financial losses and warn U.S. grocery shoppers could notice shortages as soon as this week.

Amidst the shutdown, members of the Gulf Cartel torched several tractor-trailers on the Pharr-Reynosa bridge border crossing. The violence had its intended effect of forcing protesting truckers to flee and the border crossing reopening to traffic. Allowing for smuggling activities to resume under increased risk of searches once across the border port of entry and into Texas.

Sources ABC Government of Texas Borderland Beat ACLU