A bipartisan push is being made appealing for the federal government to reopen the international bridges Laredo shares with Nuevo Laredo and Colombia, Nuevo Leon to Mexican tourists.
Rep. Henry Cuellar (TX-28) and U.S. Sen. John Cornyn led a bipartisan letter to Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf expressing concern with continued travel restrictions at the southern ports of entry and demanding a plan to restore normal operations. The letter was sent despite many people locally continuing to worry about allowing the bridges to be opened due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We fully appreciate the difficult balance that DHS must strike between protecting its officers and the public against COVID-19, and facilitating the economic and social needs of border communities,” the letter stated. “However, DHS has provided little public insight into how it weighed the costs and benefits of these extended travel restrictions. We worry the longer lines at ports of entry and inability to social distance in pedestrian lanes may actually increase the risk of spreading COVID-19, and DHS has not provided sufficient information to show how they are mitigating these risks.”
The lack of a plan set up by homeland security to know how and when they will open up the international bridges lies at the center of the letter. They want the agency to develop a plan to reopen everything as soon as possible.
“Furthermore, DHS has not publicly articulated a plan for returning to normal operations, or set forth any benchmarks that must be reached before the travel restrictions can be partially relaxed or completely lifted,” the letter said. “While we understand that DHS is currently forced to adapt to a constantly-changing situation, all four southwest border states — Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California — have developed phased reopening plans. DHS should develop the same type of plan to better provide local communities with a basic idea of what to expect in the coming months.”
The letter concludes with how the need to reopen the bridges is important not just because it allows Mexican tourists to spend money in Texas and Laredo but also to help save many struggling businesses in downtown areas like in Laredo where there is a reported 80-90% of businesses closed down or not operating as usual because of the pandemic.
“Finally, DHS has not adequately communicated with local governments, businesses, and the general public about the travel restrictions,” the letter said. “Although CBP has engaged in local outreach efforts, many of those efforts seem to have focused on ‘essential’ businesses. So-called ‘non-essential’ businesses — which comprise critical parts of the local economies — are often left under-informed about why the restrictions have been imposed and when they may be lifted.”
Some in the Gateway City have a different view on opening the international bridges as they fear allowing more people into the country will only increase the infections already seen.
“They need to wait,” Esther Bernal said. “Second wave is around the corner, and we don’t want to start from zero again. I don’t want to lose another family member nor friends.”
The decision of whether to extend the travel restrictions will come by Oct. 21.
“More people around, more infections,” Eri Mendoza Munoz said. “I do miss my family from across, but we haven’t socialized with anyone yet, so I guess I can wait. But someone explain that never-ending line of pedestrians are all essential trips.”
Some people also do not want the international bridges to open just yet as they feel that testing in Mexico is not as accurate as they report.
“I hope they don’t open the bridges, because in Mexico they are false numbers, not real figures,” Norma Hamilton said. “There have been more sick, deceased relatives and friends infected by COVID in Nuevo Laredo than in Laredo.”
Patricia Gonzalez agrees with the idea that Nuevo Laredo is not doing as much testing, and she thinks a real danger exists if the bridges are opened for economic reasons.
“They aren’t testing enough people,” Gonzalez said. “I believe opening up will put Laredo in danger.”
Of all those polled about reopening the international bridges, only one person said the fairest thing to do is to reopen the bridges just as Mexico is currently allowing all American citizens and legal residents to travel to the country with little to no restrictions at all.
“I think they should open it as a lot of citizens and green card people are going into Nuevo Laredo. Have you all seen the bridges? They are always at their max,” Margarita Gamboa said.
Regardless of whether people think the bridges should be opened or not, there seems to be a universal concern for how the potential second wave will impact the area.
Despite any concerns, support for reopening the bridges from local and national leaders is growing.
The letter sent by Cuellar and Cornyn also included the support of other congressional leaders as well. These other leaders included Senator Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) along with U.S. Representatives Will Hurd (TX-23), Vicente Gonzalez (TX-15), Michael McCaul (TX-10) and Ann Kirkpatrick (AZ-02).
For link to original article, click here.
