Border cities call for non-essential crossings to be opened for the economy to improve

EL PASO, TX – Border cities hope that this month the borders will be opened and the restriction on non-essential border crossings will be lifted, since the adverse economic impact that occurs is very considerable.

For this reason, mayors of the entire border between Mexico and the United States ask the authorities of both countries to do everything possible to accelerate the reopening, as this will help the economies of the border cities improve.

For the businesses that are at the entrance to the city of El Paso, Texas, sales are no longer the same as before, now the last ten it is necessary to be attentive to the news to know if the governments of both countries will have an agreement and they will open the border at land crossings.

The city of El Paso, Texas, is closely linked to the commercial relationship with its neighbor, Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, and since the pandemic began, economic and social relations have been disrupted.

For Andrea Carbajal, not being able to visit his family in Mexico is no longer the worst of this pandemic, since Americans are allowed to cross the border by land; that and social networks have kept everyone united.

However, the fact that mexicans cannot go to El Paso was an issue that hit her finances, since she worked in one of the stores located next to the Santa Fe International Bridge and purchases were made mainly by mexicans upon entering to the United States or before returning to your country.

What she thought would be a matter of weeks, she returned for more than a year and lost her job, so she had to live from part-time jobs or cleaning houses, in addition to requesting help through checks that the Federal Government gave.

The situation that she lives is not only in her city, since it ranges from Texas to California, where the same situation is registered, because in an effort to prevent Covid-19 from increasing, the United States Government closed its borders to land crossings non-essential.

In fact, mayors of the border cities of both countries have requested that the reopening be carried out as soon as possible, since the economies of these communities depend on one as on the other.

According to the figures provided by the city of San Diego, during the pandemic and its closure, more than US $ 700 million dollars have been lost and at least 200 businesses have been closed due to the lack of consumers.

In the city of Nogales, Arizona, merchants have come together for months to petition the President of the United States, Joe Biden, that pedestrians and people in vehicles can enter.

According to a study by the Center of the Baker Institute at Rice University, the impact on the economy of communities on the US side of the border amounts to about US $ 10 billion in losses since the start of the pandemic in March 2020.

For the mayors of the border cities this is something that should no longer continue, since the closure is to some extent illogical, since although people cannot enter across international bridges, they can do so by air to different parts of the country and so move from one side to the other.

It is important that the authorities realize that it is no longer beneficial and the economy would grow as soon as it reopens, in addition, the vaccination of both countries advances and this will help prevent the Covid from being caused.