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Commentary: Delays for opening Texas border defy common sense

The Texas-Mexico border remains closed to all but so-called “essential” travel. Yet this doesn’t extend to air travel.

Washington | San Antonio Express, May 26, 2021

When the pandemic began, the U.S.-Mexico border was closed for health reasons. Well, really, part of the border was closed.

Only Mexicans who already had visas or were employed by an “essential” American could cross the border by land. Anyone could take a plane as long as they could afford the ticket and a COVID-19 test. The border has remained this way since the pandemic began more than a year ago.

Now, again, for another month, the border is closed for local and regional travel. It seems as if the nation is concerned with only one of two immigration matters. Refugees are not the only ones who cross the border; local traffic and commerce pass, too — but they’ve been halted almost completely and seemingly arbitrarily for over a year.

If the border was universally closed for health reasons — by both land and air — there would be no issue. That’s not the case. The populations of border communities are broadly Latino and include some of the poorest populations in the nation — yet our families, friends, businesses and communities remain separated if they can’t afford time off, access to a vehicle or a plane ticket.

Families are apparently not “essential” either — unless they can fly from one wealthy hub to another. For Mexicans in a border community like Nuevo Laredo, that would mean spending at least $400 driving to Monterrey 150 miles to the south, then flying north 300 miles to San Antonio, and then driving 150 miles south again to Laredo. To return to Mexico, these travelers who have gone out of their way hundreds of miles can simply cross the bridge back home.

These are communities divided by a common border. These cities are not far enough apart to justify a commercial flight. It would be like expecting someone to fly from north to south Chicago.

 

Businesspeople have a potential recourse if they are “essential.” They might have an opportunity to cross the border if they can obtain a “sponsorship” letter testifying to meetings. Most of the time these letters do not work, and denials seem random; one could be approved while 10 others are not. One of my clients — a Mexican who owned an American business and had not been to that U.S. location in over a year — had letters from their accountant, a banker and the manager of their own business and still could not cross by land. The purpose was not deemed “essential.”

U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, and the local chamber of commerce have repeatedly called for a reopening of the border. Only the Biden-Harris administration has the power to change this border policy.

The Biden-Harris administration’s interest on the border gave our community hope that it would reopen to everyday traffic. It’s almost June, and there seems to be no relief in sight. Most of us here hope the administration will avail itself of common sense and open the border soon.