Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller called on Gov. Greg Abbott to halt his recent policy of additional commercial inspections at the border, calling the measure “political theater” and predicting it will leave grocery store shelves empty within weeks.
In an open letter addressed to the governor Tuesday, Miller said Abbott’s “economy killing action” is exacerbating already strained supply chains and causing massive produce shortages resulting in “untold losses” for Texas businesses.
“Your inspection protocol is not stopping illegal immigration,” Miller said in his letter. “It is stopping food from getting to grocery store shelves and in many cases causing food to rot in trucks — many of which are owned by Texas and other American companies. … The people of Texas deserve better!”
Abbott announced last week that state troopers would conduct inspections of northbound commercial vehicles in addition to those performed by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents at ports of entry between Texas and Mexico.
“Officials with the United States Border Patrol and Customs and Border Protections already conduct extensive inspections of commercial vehicles entering the United States at Texas border crossings. Resources should be placed where illegal crossings take place, not to create a crisis where they do not,” Miller wrote.
See here for the background. Miller himself is of course well acquainted with idiocy, so I don’t want to put too much stock in this. We’re firmly in stopped-clock territory here. But anytime someone says that Texans deserve better when talking about Greg Abbott, well, I’m going to have to agree with them.