BROWNSVILLE, Texas (ValleyCentral) — Mexican officials held a news conference Thursday in regard to trucking inspections the Texas Department of Public Safety is conducting at the Veterans International Bridge.

Javier Saldivar, the representative of the National Chamber for Transportation of CANCAR (Camara Nacional Del Autotransporte de Carga), said since Monday, May 1 there was no official announcement that every truck going from Matamoros to the United States would have to undergo a complete inspection.

“Usually 1,100 trucks cross the bridge per day, but now only 300 trucks can cross. It’s killing us, it’s killing the economy,” said Saldivar.

He recalled the April 2022 inspections at the Pharr International Bridge that lasted three days and had a loss of about $1 billion.

Saldivar was asked if DPS is doing this for safety, he said he was not sure. But thinks maybe it has to do with immigration.

“They [DPS] force these types of inspections thinking they are going to find something. We have three inspection ports: Mexican Customs, U.S. Customs, and the Department of Transportation. We end up at DPS, so if someone was in the truck inspection would catch it.”

Saldivar says he has reached out to DPS, American officials, and Mexican officials but has received no response and urges governments to get together and resolve this issue.

U.S. Rep. Vicente Gonzalez sent a letter to Gov. Greg Abbott on Thursday demanding answers about the commercial vehicle inspections.

Gonzalez said the inspections are also taking place at the Free Trade International Bridge at Los Indios.

“Your catastrophic policies requiring additional and unnecessary inspections in April of 2022, cost the state of Texas an estimated $477 million per day,” Gonzalez said in the letter. “Our communities should not have to pay the price of your failure. The efficient flow of cross-border commerce is critical to our nation’s economic stability, and additional, uncoordinated inspections will significantly impact local supply chains in Texas and across the United States.”

The congressman said the two ports of entry account for more than $10.5 billion in cross-border commerce annually.