Travel limits batter border businesses
Eagle Grocery, nestled in downtown Eagle Pass just three blocks from the Rio Grande — and a short jaunt across the border bridge from Piedras Negras, Mexico — has weathered some tough times since it opened in 1939.
The family grocery store offers staples popular in Mexico, including a full-service meat counter. It survived a devastating flood in 1954, a fire in 1957 and a huge Mexican currency devaluation in the early1980s that hit Eagle Pass hard as well.
Yet, none of these catastrophes compare to the economic fallout fromthe border crossing rules that were imposed in mid-march following the outbreak of COVID-19, said Jaime Rodriguez, the general manager of Eagle Grocery.
“Border crossers normally account for about 60to 70percent of our business,” said Rodriguez, the grandson of original owners Jose and Margarita Rodriguez. “Mexican families traditionally come
Much of the income U.S. stores see in normal years is from Mexicans who come across the Rio Grande
across the bridge to buy essentials like eggs and milk and meat, because they can find better quality at lower prices — but now they are not being allowed to cross.”
Eagle Grocery is one of the thousands of businesses along the Texas side of the border that have felt the pain fromamarch21, 2020, Homeland Security travel restriction that limits land border crossings frommexico to “essential travelers.”
In practice, the restrictions offer unlimited crossing privileges to U.S. citizens and lawful permanent U.S. residents, as well as those working or studying in the U.S., even if they live in Mexico.
They include those journeying for medical purposes or on government travel. In addition, they cover those involved in cross-border trade, including truck drivers.
Those excluded from crossing are Mexicans with legal visas who nonetheless come to the U.S. — perhaps four or five blocks from their homes — to shop or to visit friends and family.
“People normally go back and forth across the border many times a week — siblings might live on one side or the other and commute to see their families,” said Manuel Reyes, a senior research analyst at the Hibbs Institute for Business and Economic Research at the University of Texas at Tyler.
There are both cultural and economic reasons that those living near the border, manyofwhomon both sides call themselves “borderlanders,” view these crossings as a way of life, said Ivan Jose Rodriguez-sanchez, an international trade fellow at Rice University, who recently wrote a report on the economic impact of the restrictions at the border.
“It is a cultural heritage that is passed on from generation to generation,” Rodriguez-sanchez said, noting it would be typical to cross for lunch or for a shopping trip.
Price differences between goods in theu.s. andmexico, especially for clothing and electronics, also encourage crossings.
Many retail businesses on the U.S. side that cater to this demand have taken a hard hit as the result of a result of the travel limitations.
In El Paso, for example, more than $100 million in retail sales likely were lost in December alone, said Tom Fullerton, an economics professor at the University of Texas at El Paso.
Consumers from northern Mexico are likely to instead purchase the same items from Amazon in the U.S. or its Alibaba counterpart
in Mexico, Fullerton said, or purchase a similar item in Mexico.
Those with connections might ask a family member or other acquaintance to bring the item across the border, even it might require a transport fee.
The replacements come at cost for U.S. border businesses.
“If you have a clothing store and you are downtown, you probably had to curtail your hours or close because of the initial virus response — and nowyou are hit with federal border rules,” said Teclo Garcia, the economic development director for the city of Laredo, noting these border crossers typically constitute 20 to 30 percent of retail sales in Laredo. “It makes it really tough to survive.”
Mexico, on the other hand, never officially has closed its borders. a
Traffic heading for Mexico at the Laredo International Bridge, while lower than previous years, had started to back up for blocks in the pre-christmas rush.
“Traffic is backed up half a mile heading south right now,” Garcia said. “Many Mexicans in the U.S. will travel back home for two, three or four weeks for the Christmas break.
“It is a crazy time to be doing that because of the travel restrictions, but the lure of family in Mexico is strong, and maybe their trip is not that far.”
These travelers, as long as they have the proper documentation, will be able to cross back into the U.S. at the end of their stay in Mexico without any requirement to self-quarantine, beyond what’s recommended by specific U.S. cit
ies or states.
Jodi Goodwin, an immigration attorney in Harlingen, said that border authorities have been good about honoring these rules. Most of her clients with work visas have reported no problems in crossing.
What’s undeniable is that some border towns on the U.S. side have been among the hardest hit by the virus in recent weeks.
El Paso, for example, doubled its numberof cases in late October, from30,000 to 60,000infections, and has had more than 1,500 COVid-19-related deaths since March, data collected by the New York Times shows.
In late October, the northern state of Chihuahua had one of the highest infection rates in Mexico, with half of its 30,000 confirmed infections coming from Ciudad Juarez, which neighbors El Paso.
Some experts argue these correlating numbers indicate the border strategy is not successful.
“The idea of preventing Mexican citizens from entering the U.S. but allowing U.S. citizens and permanent residents to circulate freely is puzzling,” said Tony Payan, the director of the Mexico Center at the Baker Institute at Rice University. “If you look at the actual statistics on either side of these towns, it seems to have made no difference.”
But that doesn’t mean that fear of infection doesn’t keep many Mexicans working in the U.S., who have the legal right to cross the border and return, from doing so.
These concerns have compelled Manuel Reyes, who is from Chihuahua but currently lives in Dallas, to postpone a Christmas visit to his elderly mother.
“This is not the best time,” Reyes said. “We have decided there is no point. We are not visiting any friends or people for Christmas, not even here in Dallas.”