DHS Extends Travel Restrictions at U.S.-Mexico Border

Speaker 1: 00:00 Restrictions on non-essential travel at the U S Mexico border will continue for another month. According to the department of Homeland security, the travel limitations that were originally imposed in March, 2020 have kept families and friends apart and hurt small businesses. And while both San Diego county and the state of Baja, California have more than 60% of their eligible population, fully vaccinated us officials, point to surgeon COVID-19 infections on both sides of the border as the main reason for delaying reopening. Joining me now with Maura's Gustavo Solis, a reporter for the voice of San Diego. Gustavo. Welcome. Speaker 2: 00:34 Thank you. Okay. So can you remind Speaker 1: 00:36 Us what exactly are the current restrictions, which were initially set to expire at midnight, who really is able to cross right Speaker 2: 00:41 Now, the officially the restrictions are for non-essential travel. What that means practically is Mexican nationals, or really just any non us nationals with valid tourist visas cannot come into the U S the restrictions still allow for the transportation of trucks, for people on student and business visas. And for Americans going south to TJ and via the Waterloo bay and elsewhere, they can go south and come back as they please. So it mostly impacts non-nationals who are trying to cross the border into the U S reasons Speaker 1: 01:15 To the department of Homeland security, really give for extending the restrictions another Speaker 2: 01:18 Month. Well, not many other than, than what you said, right? They're concerned about the spread of COVID, which is what they've been saying for more than a year. Now, that's where a lot of the frustration comes from just a lack of clarity on this coming from Washington, DC officials here in San Diego have asked repeatedly for some kind of checklist or roadmap or metric that we need to get to in order to reopen the border. And they just haven't gotten it. Officials in Mexico are asking the same thing. I reported last week on this push by the Mexican government to really increase vaccinations along the border region with the explicit goal of reopening the border to non-essential travel. But the us government is just silent. They're not saying what we need to do in order to reopen it. And I think that uncertainty is really causing a lot of frustration, especially as this restriction keeps on getting extended month after month after month with no insight. My understanding is that Speaker 1: 02:12 The reopening of the border, as you just said, is really tied to vaccination rates. Is there a ratio of vaccination rates needed to be able to open the border? Speaker 2: 02:20 No. No. And, and that's sort of the issue there. There's no magic number that the federal government has given to the public that says, alright, if we get to X percent of vaccination, and if Mexico gets to X percent of vaccination rates, then we'll reopen that doesn't exist. So it really adds a lot of uncertainty, San Diego Speaker 1: 02:38 Mayor, Todd, Gloria, along with other leaders have implored the department of Homeland security to reopen the border saying if people can fly into Mexico, then why can't they cross over land? Do you have a sense of what's driving these somewhat uneven policies? Speaker 2: 02:51 I think the mayor and he co-signed that letter with the mayors of Imperial beach, Chula Vista Cornado and county supervisor, Nora bargains. They have a really fair point, right? It makes no sense that somebody can fly from Mexico city to LA and then drive down to San Diego. But someone from Tijuana can't walk across to San Diego, right? I mean that on its face sounds absurd. And the federal government hasn't really done a good job of explaining why, what impact Speaker 1: 03:18 Is this having on the region's economy? I know it's been particularly tough for small business owners who really rely on this border traffic. Speaker 2: 03:25 The border restrictions seemed to be favoring big corporations at the expense of small businesses and mom and pop businesses are the example, like I said, right? The border is still open for trucks, freight trains. A lot of companies have moved out of California out of the U S and have manufacturing hubs in Tijuana. They can still do business as normal. They can still get out of paying higher wages in the us and still be in business. But for small shops along the border, who rely on consumers, traveling from Tijuana to San Diego, they're they're really, really hurting. And the last figures I had was to date more than 200 businesses have permanently closed in San Ysidro. I think Jason Wells was on record saying that they're seeing a decrease in about 7.7 million in sales each week. So if you want economic impact that sit right rough back on the envelope. Math is about 31 million in sales lost in San Ysidro. San Diego sales tax rate is 7.75. So that about a month rough math, it's about two and a half million dollars in lost sales tax revenue for San Diego. Obviously not all of it stays in San Diego. It goes to the state and the county, but that's 2.5 million of tax dollars that we're losing because of these border restrictions and beyond Speaker 1: 04:44 These economic impacts, which as you are outlining are large, this is also making it really difficult for families who live on both sides of the border to even see each other. What are you hearing about how families are coping? Speaker 2: 04:56 It's not just hearing, I see it in my own family, right? I mentioned the example of people flying from Mexico to LA and Donna San Diego. My grandma did that because that was the only way she could visit us. After we all got vaccinated, we hadn't seen her in a year. She's 88 and that took a toll on her, just traveling like pat, instead of just flying to Tiwan and walking across and to take time off work, to go and pick her up. That's the minor convenience for our family, but recognize that we're better off than most right. We had the means to get that plane ticket. But what if you're not in that position, right? That that prevents you from seeing the family. And it's taken a huge toll, a human toll here on the region, right? You think about San Diego, how many families have cousins or brothers or sisters living on separate sides of the border and they can't cross and see each other. They have to go through all these extra steps to see that. I mean, that, that takes a huge toll, like think of how many birthdays weddings funerals, this impacts. And it really kind of starts to show the human toll. I've been speaking Speaker 1: 05:55 With Gustavo police reporter for the voice of San Diego. Thank you so much. Thank you.