A new way to stem the illegal alien tide?

I had to smile at this report.

While cameras followed the bus-’em-to-DC story, [Governor Greg Abbott’s] Texas Department of Public Safety was wreaking major trade havoc at some of America’s busiest commercial ports of entry, backlogging trucks into long snaking lines into the Mexican horizon. Bright and early on Thursday April 7, small groups of Texas Department of Public Safety commercial vehicle inspectors started slow and methodical inspections of trucks coming off the Pharr-Reynosa international bridge. The operation immediately jammed up trucks for more miles into Mexico than web and drone cameras could see – and probably will again all this coming week.

By Friday morning, April 8, Texas DPS inspectors all but halted international trade at America’s busiest border truck crossing, the Colombia Solidarity International Bridge to Laredo. Trucks back up so far that one observer friend of mine who flew a drone high overhead (see photo below) said the end of the line could not be seen, not for “miles and miles and miles.” The same scene played out at one of America’s other busiest land ports, the international bridge connecting Ciudad Juarez to El Paso. Truck lines carrying Mexico’s economic lifeblood – and not a little of Texan lifeblood too – backed up far into Juarez.

. . .

Gov. Abbott held the press briefing to announce Texas preparatory responses to the human tsunami of up to 18,000 illegal immigrants a day expected after May 23, when Biden lifts the Title 42 pandemic-related order that had Border Patrol rapidly expelling migrants back to Mexico without hearings. In addition to the bus-them-to-Washington idea, the governor pointedly noted that his “enhanced safety inspections” would “dramatically slow” the truck flow coming off those bridges “to help ensure that Texans are not endangered by unsafe vehicles and their unsafe drivers.” And hopefully to interdict some drugs.

But he didn’t say the obvious, which is that these operations would severely impede U.S.-Mexico trade. In my opinion, Texas officials cannot and will not say that’s what they intended, to purposefully inflict economic pain to force the Biden administration and/or Mexico to pay attention to Texas concerns about the coming migrant tidal wave… to dam it up, clear it out, whatever.

. . .

Within hours of the bridge backups, Texas companies began howling about the economic pain and trouble this was causing them … It remains to be seen whether Abbott will relent before he forces bigger players to the table, if that’s the game … But at some point, President Biden and Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador will have no choice but to react to Texas.

From there, the Texas Hold-Em game like this puts all of us into speculation land because that game has never been played before.

There’s more at the link.

I think this is an inevitable response from, not just Texas, but all border states in due course.  The unchecked gusher of illegal aliens pouring across our southern border is a monumental burden for Texas, and for the rest of the country too.  The Biden administration clearly doesn’t give a tinker’s damn about that – so Texas has to find some way to get their attention.  If that means hurting the national economy in this way, just as Texas’ economy has been hurt by the illegal alien invasion, well, they asked for it.  (Sure, it’ll hurt Texas companies too, but then we’re already being hurt by Biden’s contemptuous dismissal of our concerns.  Abbott’s probably betting that the pain will be felt more in the national economy than in Texas’.  Given how much this state produces from its own resources, he may be right.)

I hope Governor Abbott stays the course on this one.  It’s probably the only meaningful card he can play – but if he does so skillfully, he might just take the pot.  Here’s hoping.

Peter