Skift Take
Confusion over Covid rules and long lines of cars and trucks slowed household reunions on the U.S. side of the border with Mexico however this will arrange itself out in coming weeks.
Dennis Schaal
Dozens of crossings at the Mexico-United States border reopened to non-essential travel on Monday after a 20-month closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic, though life is not quite back to normal yet along the 2,000 mile (3,200 kilometer) frontier.
Ahead of reopening, hundreds of vehicles formed lines extending back kilometers from the border at the Mexican city of Tijuana, while queues at pedestrian crossings grew gradually.
Still, differing rules over coronavirus vaccines threaten to hold up household reunions, while the possibility of some curbs reducing has also encouraged migrants to try their luck seeking U.S. asylum, presenting a brand-new test for the Biden administration.
Maria Luisa Gonzalez, a California resident who checked out Tijuana on Friday to take her Chihuahua puppy to the veterinarian and see family members, was losing persistence as she waited to drive back through San Diego at the San Ysidro port of entry on Sunday.
“The operations to speed things up aren’t working,” Gonzalez stated, noticeably disappointed. “The roadway diverted me twice, the indications they published are very confusing.”
Preparing for heavy road usage after reopening, Tijuana city board this week stated it had re-routed traffic in some streets, but some citizens were unclear where to go.
Tijuana’s border with San Diego is among the busiest on the planet, with thousands crossing to work, study or shop daily.
However some inoculated Mexicans will not be able to enter the United States immediately if they got vaccines in Mexico that have actually not been approved by the World Health Company such as China’s CanSino and Russia’s Sputnik V.
“I never ever envisioned that because I got the CanSino vaccine I would not have the ability to cross,” lamented Donato Suarez, a chauffeur at a private university in Tijuana who had hoped to visit family members in the United States he has actually not seen for almost 2 years.
“We even had plans to do something when the border reopened,” he added, keeping in mind around 300 individuals where he works remain in the exact same situation. “We’ll have to wait.”
(Reporting by Lizbeth Diaz; Modifying by Michael Perry)
This short article was written by Lizbeth Diaz from Reuters and was lawfully licensed through the Industry Dive publisher network. Please direct all licensing concerns to [e-mail protected]
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