The Mexico-United States border witnessed lesser than usual rush as it reopened for nonessential travel following a nearly two-year closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The US fully reopened its borders with Mexico and Canada on Monday and lifted restrictions on travel from Europe after 20 months. However, officials in the Mexican border city of Tijuana said people were apprehensive about being caught in traffic snarls. Javier Delgado, a Tijuana transport official, told news agency Reuters there was about 35% less traffic than expected on the city’s border with San Diego.
On Sunday, the sight of cars lined up for kilometers from Tijuana had led to concerns that the reopening would be chaotic.
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“In the morning, there was no line,” Tijuana resident Claudia Hernandez said as she prepared to enter the US to go shopping ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday.
“Next week we’ll see the massive lines that always form.”
Mexico’s foreign ministry said late on Monday that the first day of the border reopening passed “without incident.”
“The border flow is expected to increase over the weekend and progressively as the holidays approach and starting with Black Friday,” the ministry said.
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The US has placed restrictions on Mexicans from entering the country immediately if they have received vaccines, such as China’s CanSino and Russia’s Sputnik V, that have not been approved by the World Health Organization.
David Jerome, president and CEO of the El Paso Chamber of Commerce on Mexico’s border in Texas, told Associated Press he wasn’t expecting the rush of visitors from Mexico to visit anytime soon.
Still, “we feel like we’re getting our neighbors back and we’re glad to get people going back to work,” Jerome said.
Businesses in US towns along the Mexico border had suffered hefty economic losses due to the closing, San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria said during a news conference at the San Ysidro crossing.
