A U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agent and K-9 security dog keep watch at a checkpoint station, Friday, Feb. 22, 2013, in Falfurrias, Texas. (Eric Gay | AP)

Checkpoints manned by the Texas Department of Public Safety will soon be added across Texas to target tractor-trailers after more than 50 people died trapped inside one of them during a botched smuggling attempt near San Antonio on Monday.

Gov. Greg Abbott made the announcement Wednesday afternoon in Eagle Pass during a news conference held by the border.

The Republican governor, who is running for reelection, began his address by immediately critiquing the Democratic presidential administration’s policies that he blamed for the deadly incident earlier this week.

“Many of these deaths could be prevented if Biden simply fully funded the Border Patrol operation of the United States of America and implemented policies that the Border Patrol needs in order to do their real job,” Abbott said. “And the real job is not the paper processing work that they’ve been assigned to do. Their real job is to secure the border, as well as to do things like inspect the vehicle that was carrying those people who lost their lives.”

Abbott’s previous attempt to inspect trailers proved disastrous to the economy, costing millions of dollars, according to some estimates.

In April, when Abbott first implemented the strategy, the checkpoints were placed near ports of entry. The move caused widespread delays and eventually led to the shutdown of the Pharr-Reynosa International Bridge.

Abbott quickly made agreements with his Mexican counterparts and stopped the inspections only a few days after implementing them.

It’s unclear where the new checkpoints will be placed, but Abbott said he was in Eagle Pass Wednesday to “do more” in that area, which is currently seeing a rise in border crossings.

By Tuesday afternoon, the number of people who died as a result of heat exhaustion in the trailer rose to 53, according to Bexar County officials.

Officials from the Mexican Institute for Immigration who spoke at a news conference Wednesday morning shared a map of the route the truck took from Laredo to Encinal, Cotulla, Pearsal and finally southwest San Antonio.

The trailer traveled south to Laredo first and then back up the same day, crossing through a north Laredo checkpoint about 2 p.m. Monday, according to a source who spoke to The Monitor but is not authorized to speak officially on the matter.

Information about where and when the migrants boarded the trailer has not been publicly shared, but Abbott spoke in an exculpatory tone when discussing the Border Patrol checkpoint crossings.

“It was not inspected because the Border Patrol does not have the resources to be able to inspect all of the trucks. And, as a result the Border Patrol did not have the capability of saving those lives,” Abbott said.

The governor said DPS also created two strike teams to detect, deter and apprehend unlawful crossings of immigrants that will be deployed immediately in Eagle Pass.

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