COVID-19 at the Border

Philanthropy responds to COVID-19 in the Borderlands.

March 3, 2021

Mexico: Six arrested for selling fake COVID-19 vaccines. A private clinic in northern Mexico was found offering fake coronavirus vaccines for up to $2,000. Experts have long worried about criminal gangs attempting to counterfeit vaccines. Mexico began its vaccination drive on December 24, starting with front-line health care workers. At least six people were arrested in northern Mexico on Wednesday for allegedly trafficking fake coronavirus vaccines. "We have direct evidence that fraudulent vaccines... were sold for up to 40,000 pesos (around $2,000) per dose," said Assistant Health Secretary Hugo Lopez-Gatell at a press conference. The fake shots were presented as BioNTech-Pfizer vaccines, which are only available in Mexico through government vaccinations teams, he said. Authorities found a private clinic offering fake vaccines for sale in the city of Monterrey, in the border state of Nuevo Leon. "The seizure of fake vaccines... (read more)

Texas doctor creates cartoons to explain science behind COVID-19. Dr. Valentina Hoyos Velez didn't realize she was an artist until the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Hoyos Velez, a breast oncologist and assistant professor at the Baylor College of Medicine, typically treats cancer patients and is a researcher who focuses on immunotherapies in her laboratory. "I always thought we need to get better treatments, treatments that don't have so much toxicities, that are better tolerated, and that actually can cure cancer," Hoyos Velez said. "The more I learned about it, the more I, in my opinion, thought that immunotherapy is the way of the future for that." Trying to simplify explanations about immunotherapies to patients, paired with spending more time at home during the COVID-19 pandemic, Hoyos Velez tried to get creative- with cartoons. "I realized that many people were refusing to get the vaccine because they didn't really understand how it worked, and there was a lot of misconceptions about it that I found online, and my patients would ask me things that really just made no sense," Hoyos Velez said. "So I said, 'Well, maybe I'll just put a pause on the explaining... (read more)

"Scheduling Angels" are scouring the internet to book vaccine appointments for strangers. Volunteers across Texas have stepped up to help seniors, non-English speakers, and others in need navigate an opaque system. Shanti Shahani de Venegas was one of millions of Texans who struggled to stay warm through last week's winter storm. On the night of February 15, the Plano resident kept logs burning in the fireplace as her family slept. Between poking at the embers, she stayed busy in her fight against the other ongoing crisis: the pandemic that has killed more than 40,000 Texans. Using the wireless hotspot from her phone and an external battery to keep it charged, she scoured the web for vaccine appointments. By the time her battery died at 4 a.m., she'd been able to sign up more than thirty people to get their shots. Shahani de Venegas said her decision to work through the night was twofold: The first reason was that she simply needed... (read more)

Updated: February 17, 2021

California mayor says U.S. must help Mexico with COVID-19 vaccinations, otherwise border economy will lag. About a month ago, the city of Tijuana and other cities in the Mexican border state of Baja California began vaccinating healthcare workers. Back then, health officials said their plan was to vaccinate most people by the fall. But less than two weeks later, Mexico announced the number of vaccines promised was not going to be delivered in the immediate future. Since then, vaccinations have lagged. According to a world COVID-19 vaccination tracking service, Mexico has vaccinated just under 720,000 residents. In comparison, the U.S. has inoculated 43.2 million people north of the border. At this pace, Mexico would need more than 60 years to vaccinate 70% of its population. "The vaccine rollout in the U.S. has been slow, it's getting better, but in Mexico it's been an absolute disaster," said Imperial Beach Mayor Serge Dedina. Dedina's city lies just north of the border from Tijuana."If Mexico remains unvaccinated, it could... (read more)

COVID testing protocols not clear as border crossings surge. Holding her young daughter, 18-year-old Ana from El Salvador said she made the month-long journey to McAllen, Texas for her child. KHOU isn't identifying Ana and isn't using her last name to protect her identity in case her life is in danger in her home country. "More than anything, I did it for my daughter," she said in Spanish. "Because over there, she can't have the same things she can have here." The reasons for coming to this country don't change based on who's in the White House. "I want to find a job so I can work for my little girl," Ana said. People like Ana still make the journey and in recent weeks, hundreds of undocumented immigrants who crossed into the United States were apprehended by Border Patrol and then released into the communities in the Rio Grande Valley, according to nonprofit organizations that work with the population and the City of Brownsville statistics. "For the last year and a half, since MPP (Migrant Protection Protocol, a Trump Administration policy of having... (read more)

Some foreign nationals are getting coronavirus vaccines in the United States. One of Mexico's best-known TV hosts sat in a car, masked, looking straight ahead while a needle was plunged into his bare upper arm. Juan Jose "Pepillo" Origel was the latest Mexican national to get a dose of coronavirus vaccine - by coming to the United States. "Vaccinated! Thank you #USA how sad that my country didn't provide me with this security!!!" the 72-year-old star tweeted in Spanish on Jan. 23, along with a photo of his inoculation in the parking lot of the Miami zoo. Mexican social media users immediately criticized Origel, protesting that his ability to fly to the United States to be vaccinated, crystallized their nation's vast inequities. About the same time, Florida health leaders, concerned that out-of-state residents and foreign nationals were flocking in for precious doses of scarce coronavirus vaccine, moved to restrict access to full- or part-time residents of... (read more)

Updated: February 3, 2021

The 'Dr. Fauci' of the Texas border is counting the dead. Laredo, Texas, is enduring the country's worst outbreak at the end of the pandemic's deadliest month. A crusading cardiologist, leading the fight, is begging the state to close down his city. Each day at around 6 p.m., Dr. Ricardo Cigarroa goes through the same grim ritual. He sits at his desk and counts the dead. "Five to seven death certificates, that's how many I'm signing every single day," Dr. Cigarroa, a 62-year-old cardiologist, said as he stared at the paperwork piling up one afternoon last week. "It only gets worse." At the end of the pandemic's deadliest month, Laredo held the bleak distinction of having one of the most severe outbreaks of any city in the United States. As cases soar, the death toll in the overwhelmingly Latino city of 277,000 now stands at more than 630 - including at least 126 in January alone. When the virus made its way to the borderlands almost a year ago, the bespectacled Dr. Cigarroa could have just hunkered down. He could have focused on his profitable cardiology practice, which has... (read more)

COVID-19 testing for travel from Mexico to the U.S. The U.S. government cannot administer or provide COVID-19 testing for persons abroad who wish to travel to the United States. For a list of COVID-19 testing sites in Mexico, click here. Last updated: January 25, 2021. Local service providers in Mexico can administer the COVID-19 test, with results typically available within 72 hours. The Embassy/Consulates cannot administer or pay for tests. The Department of State assumes no responsibility or liability for the professional ability, reputation, or the quality of services provided by the entities or individuals whose names appear on this list. Many clinics / labs on this list offer "home visits" throughout the region at an additional cost. Please contact the clinic / lab directly for details.

How COVID-19 is ravaging two cities across the US- Mexico border, with no end in sight - Business Insider video. Two cities across the US-Mexico border, El Paso and Ciudad Juárez, are both COVID-19 hotspots that are struggling to fight the pandemic.

Updated: January 22, 2021

The place hit hardest by the virus. The coronavirus has disfigured Gallup, a small New Mexico town near Native American reservations that is now one of the hardest hit places in the country. Hospitals in Gallup are nearly full. Most stores are empty. The unemployment rate in the county where the city sits is one and a half times the national average. Earlier this month, it had the most cases per capita of any metro area in the United States, according to a New York Times database. As the pandemic has steadily marched across the country in recent months, places like Gallup have been among the hardest hit. Perched between the Navajo Nation to the north and Zuni Nation to the south, almost half of Gallup's residents are Native American, according to census data. Native American communities have been particularly vulnerable to the virus, at one point accounting for nearly 40 percent of all cases in New Mexico, even though those communities make up less than a tenth of the state's population. And some who have so far been spared by the virus are nonetheless reeling from the consequences of the... (read more)

Pandemic closures alter the rhythm of life in towns on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border. Jesus Tarazon crouched down, gently guiding the yellow Labrador into the back seat of her owner's Subaru. The veterinary assistant waved as the car pulled away, then glanced at his phone. It was 5:06 p.m. - his shift was ending, and he had five hours to make it back home across the border, a relief on days he has to run errands. "Everyone who lives across the line has to watch the clock closely," said Tarazon, a U.S. citizen who commutes daily from his rural home in Mexico to his job here in this southeastern Arizona town, 12 miles from the border. "The pandemic has changed a lot." For Tarazon and the thousands of other local residents who commute between the U.S. and Mexico, pandemic-related border restrictions have altered the rhythms of daily life. The 28-year-old, who adores his work at the animal hospital, often has dinner in Bisbee after his shift - which ends at 5 p.m. most days - and takes his time heading home to his... (read more)

Once a model, California now struggles to tame COVID-19. Ambulances waited hours for openings to offload coronavirus patients. Overflow patients were moved to hospital hallways and gift shops, even a cafeteria. Refrigerated trucks were on standby, ready to store the dead. For months, California did many of the right things to avoid a catastrophic surge from the pandemic. But by the time Gov. Gavin Newsom said on Dec. 15 that 5,000 body bags were being distributed, it was clear that the nation's most populous state had entered a new phase of the COVID-19 crisis. Now infections have been racing out of control for weeks, and California remains at or near the top of the list of states with the most new cases per capita. It has routinely set new marks for infections and deaths, and began the new year reporting a record 585 deaths in a single day. Experts say a variety of factors combined to wipe out the past efforts, which for much of the year held the virus to manageable levels. Cramped... (read more)

Updated: December 16, 2020

For a border funeral home that survived the cartels, the coronavirus crisis is worse. Perches Funeral Homes has been burying bodies for more than half a century, through wars, cartel violence, epidemics and mass shootings, but nothing has filled its crematoriums, chapels and cemeteries like the coronavirus. "The soonest I could do it is in two weeks," funeral director Richard Villa told Brissa Leony, who had come to make arrangements for her grandfather last week. Villa looked at her. He knew. He had almost lost his 87-year-old mother to the virus this year. "Was it COVID?" he asked. Leony nodded. Villa made a note in the family's paperwork. The latest surge in deaths has overwhelmed even a funeral director who has spent four decades laying people to rest. Perches has had to cancel overnight velorios, or wakes, and delay burials and cremations. El Paso County this week had more COVID-19 cases per capita - 91,150 - than any other large metro area in Texas, with 1,282 deaths. Even more have died of COVID-19 across the border in Ciudad Juarez: 2,262. Heavyset and in a dark suit, Villa, 59, has the air of a man long past exhaustion. He sees... (read more)

'Small town, no hospital': Covid-19 is overwhelming rural west Texas. As cases soar in Texas, hospitals are filling up from El Paso to Lubbock. The Big Bend region is especially vulnerable, with just one hospital for 12,000 square miles. It is one of the fastest-growing coronavirus hot spots in the nation, but there are no long lines of cars piled up for drive-through testing and no rush of appointments to get swabbed at CVS. That's because in the rugged, rural expanse of far West Texas, there is no county health department to conduct daily testing, and no CVS store for more than 100 miles. A handful of clinics offer testing to those who are able to make an appointment. Out past the seesawing oil pumpjacks of Midland and Odessa, where roadrunners flit across two-lane roads and desert shrubs freckle the long, beige horizon, the Big Bend region of Texas is one of the most remote parts of the mainland United States and one of the least equipped to handle an infectious disease outbreak. There is just one hospital for 12,000 square miles and no heart or lung... (read more)

Travel restrictions at the US-Mexico border extended through the holidays. Just weeks ago, officials in the United States and Mexico extended travel restrictions at the border until Dec. 21. Now, they've been extended again - this time until late January. Restrictions at the U.S.-Mexico border first implemented in March to help slow the spread of the coronavirus are now set to remain in place until at least Jan. 21. They're meant to prevent travel the U.S. State Department has defined as nonessential, like tourism, shopping and recreational activities. Travel for medical purposes, work or school is considered essential. U.S. citizens and permanent residents are not prevented from returning home under the restrictions. And because there is minimal southbound enforcement, many people in the U.S. have continued crossing the border with little difficulty, while most of their neighbors in Mexico have been unable to cross for nearly... (read more)

Updated: December 3, 2020

US borders with Canada, Mexico will stay closed through December: 'These measures are with us for a while.' If you were hoping that the United States' borders would reopen for holiday travel, don't get your hopes up. The land borders with Canada and Mexico will remain closed through Dec. 21, Chad Wolf, acting secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced on Thursday. "In order to continue to prevent the spread of COVID, the US, Mexico, & Canada will extend the restrictions on non-essential travel through Dec 21," he wrote on Twitter. "We are working closely with Mexico & Canada to keep essential trade & travel open while also protecting our citizens from the virus. Canada's Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Bill Blair, wrote on Twitter that border-closure decisions"will continue to be based on the best public health advice available to keep Canadians safe." Though these travel restrictions have been extended in monthly increments throughout the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, the borders are not expected to open anytime soon. The U.S.... (read more)

Lawyers: Children detained at border facing COVID exposure. Immigration lawyers say Border Patrol agents are detaining about 65 immigrant children at a station in South Texas in poor conditions, with no room for social distancing and some wearing the same masks they had when they crossed the border. Border Patrol agents are detaining about 65 immigrant children at a station in South Texas in conditions that don't control the spread of the coronavirus, with limited social distancing and a lack of access to soap or hand sanitizer, immigration lawyers said Friday. A lawyer who visited the station at Weslaco, Texas, on Wednesday spoke to teenagers who had been detained there for at least three days, said Carlos Holguin, co-founder of the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law. One of the teens, a 15-year-old boy, said in an affidavit that he was allowed to shower for five minutes a day and waits to shower in a line with no room for social distancing, Holguin said. The boy said he was given a single face mask that he has to wear every day. A 13-year-old said... (read more)

Border crossings, expulsions surge during pandemic. MICHEL MARTIN, HOST: We're going to head now to the U.S.-Mexico border, which remains largely closed to migrants because of the coronavirus pandemic. But the number of illegal border crossings is way up and so are expulsions. As Alisa Reznick of Arizona Public Media reports, migrants are desperate to escape conditions in desolate Mexican border towns. ALISA REZNICK, BYLINE: Eighteen-year-old Roberto was terrified of crossing the Sonoran Desert in southern Arizona. ROBERTO: (Through interpreter) Yes, I was very afraid. I heard many people die in that desert because of dehydration and because they were bitten by a snake. REZNICK: Roberto fled gang violence in El Salvador to find a new life with an uncle in the U.S. He asked that we not use his last name because he fears for his life. Twice, he crossed the border, illegally, and twice he got caught. U.S. Border Patrol agents immediately sent him back to Sasabe in Mexico under pandemic-era protocols that allow agents to rapidly expel most migrants with no... (read more)

Updated: November 19, 2020

New Mexico Governor shuts down state for 2 weeks to curb COVID-19 spread. The state of New Mexico will be shutdown starting Monday, November 16 for two weeks, Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham announced. The statewide public health restrictions were announced Friday. Grisham and state health officials are issuing a statewide order closing in-person services for all non-essential activities in order to slow the spread of the coronavirus and to stop the strain on hospitals and health care providers. The heightened restrictions statewide are effective through Monday, Nov. 30. New Mexicans are instructed to stay at home except for only those trips that are essential to health, safety and welfare - such as for food and water, emergency medical care, to obtain a flu shot or to obtain a test for COVID-19. Essential businesses - such as grocery stores, pharmacies, shelters, child care facilities, gas stations, infrastructure operations and others - must minimize operations and in-person staffing to the greatest extent possible but may remain open for limited essential in-person activities. A complete list of categories of businesses defined as essential is included in... (read more)

El Paso has seen an increase in ambulance calls to international bridges. Why? The intensifying COVID-19 pandemic in the Borderland has prompted more ambulance calls to El Paso's international bridges. What's going on? El Paso and Juárez are suffering a twin surge in coronavirus cases that have overwhelmed hospitals on both sides of the border and stretched resources thin. But crossings at U.S. land ports of entry are currently restricted to U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents. In March, the Department of Homeland Security limited non-essential travel at land ports of entry to slow the spread of COVID-19. In practice, Mexican nationals - including those who hold a tourist visa - are prohibited from crossing. Crossing for "a medical purpose" is considered an "essential" reason, but Mexican nationals must show documentation of an appointment for a... (read more)

The coronavirus is now another risk of U.S. migration. At least 2,500 Mexicans in the United States, many of them essential workers, have died from COVID-19. Back home in Mexico, their grieving families are left without support. When Claudio Ortega Maldonado was 17, he left his home in the mountains of Guerrero, never to return. Ortega knew what awaited him if he stayed: He grew up in poverty in a family of seasonal farmers and began working as a child. He hoped to offer his parents and 11 siblings a better life with the money he sent home from New York City, and to build a house in Mexico that he could eventually return to. After 13 years away, he wanted to surprise his family and come home on Mother's Day this year. Instead, Ortega died of the coronavirus on April 22 in a Brooklyn hospital at the age of 29. In New York, Ortega had quickly landed a job as a cook, though he was undocumented. He worked 10-hour shifts six days a week, earning $3,000 a month-and sending $450 each month to his family. He sent presents for his siblings such as clothes and... (read more)

Updated: November 5, 2020

Mexican border state of Chihuahua returns to lockdown. Mexico's northern border state of Chihuahua has returned to the highest level of alert and lockdown after coronavirus cases jumped there and hospitals began to fill up. Mexico's northern border state of Chihuahua returned to the highest level of alert and lockdown Friday after coronavirus cases jumped there and hospitals began to fill up. The Chihuahua state government declared the return to the "red" level of alert Friday, which closes down most non-essential services and encourages people to stay at home. The Health Department said the state's hospital beds were now 69% occupied, and that only about 23% of intensive care beds were open. The department said steps were being taken to expand hospital facilities. The department also said that three other northern states - Durango, Coahuila and Nuevo Leon - were at risk of returning to maximum alert unless infections were brought under control. Nationwide, 19 of Mexico's 32 states will be at high alert starting Monday, 11 will be at medium alert and one state was considered at moderate risk level. Mexico as a whole has seen.. (read more)

Cities on both sides of U.S.-Mexico border strain under coronavirus surge. NPR's Ari Shapiro speaks with Angela Kocherga, news director at KTEP radio station, about the coronavirus surge along the U.S.-Mexico border. ARI SHAPIRO, HOST: El Paso, Texas, and Juarez, Mexico, are effectively one community that crosses a border, and they're being hit hard by a surge of coronavirus cases. On the U.S. side, El Paso County health officials have reported more than 1,400 newly infected people, a record. More than 800 people are now hospitalized. High school football is on hold, and county leaders are recommending people stay home. They've enacted a nighttime curfew in hopes of keeping people inside. For more on the situation, let's bring in Angela Kocherga, who joins us from El Paso. Hi, Angela. ANGELA KOCHERGA, BYLINE: Hi, Ari. SHAPIRO: So what are officials saying there in El Paso? KOCHERGA: Well, they're bracing for another bad week, as they try to contain rampant community spread. And, of course, a big concern are hospitals that reached capacity this past weekend. And there's a mobilization to increase critical care hospital beds, and there have been some tents set up outside of... (read more)

Immigrants, border families face difficulties amid COVID-19 travel restrictions. Travel restrictions have affected Americans and international travelers alike, but perhaps no one feels border-crossing conundrums more acutely than immigrants and their loved ones. And with the COVID-19 pandemic surging in several countries, their situations are likely to worsen before they improve. The U.S. borders to both Mexico and Canada are closed through at least Nov. 21, according to a tweet from Acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf earlier this month. "To continue to limit the spread of COVID, the US, Mexico, & Canada will extend the restrictions on non-essential travel through Nov 21," the tweet reads. "We are working closely with Mexico & Canada to identify safe criteria to ease the restrictions in the future & support our border communities."Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his country will keep the border closed until the U.S. gets control of the coronavirus, which causes COVID-19 - and USA TODAY's analysis of the... (read more)

Updated: October 21, 2020

COVID-19 relief funds across Borderlands grow to over US$120,700,000. Generosity knows no borders and that is certainly true in the U.S.-Mexico Border region. Community, public, and private foundations from San Diego to San Antonio on the U.S. side of the Border, and from Tijuana to Matamoros on the Mexico side of the Border have responded to the health pandemic with incredible speed and generosity. As of today, more than US$120 million has been secured to help families and communities in need. This is due to the incredible generosity of thousands of donors that believe in their community and want to help those in need. Funds have been disbursed to: help nonprofits deliver food to the hungry; provide economic relief to the unemployed; medical equipment to first responders; daycare for essential workers; grants to small businesses in jeopardy of closure; and many other needs identified by organizations along and across the region. Click here to see how foundations, corporations, community development programs, and local governments are collaborating in your community. You may also wish to consider a donation to the foundation nearest you.

What does the state of COVID-19 look like in other US-Mexico border cities? As El Paso battles through another wave of COVID-19 cases, KFOX14 went digging into how other cities with a similar dynamic are handling the virus. "We are not different than any other community," the Medical Authority for Hidalgo County, Dr. Ivan Melendez, said. In the world we live in now, there is one unsettling factor every state, county and city have in common: the coronavirus. "People just don't get it," Melendez said. On Sunday, 684 new COVID-19 cases were reported in El Paso, bringing the total number of active cases to over 8,000. "We still have the highest mortality rate in Texas," Melendez said. Hidalgo County is leading the fight against COVID-19 in the Rio Grande Valley. "Our numbers dropped to about 20 percent of what they were at the highest point," Melendez said. Just a few months back, Hidalgo County faced a second wave of COVID-19, seeing a surge in cases similar to what El Paso is seeing now. "Not helpful at all," Melendez said. Melendez said that... (read more)

Experts project increase in migrants at US-Mexico border as pandemic devastates Latin America. Immigration experts are expecting an increase in the number of migrants journeying to the US-Mexico border in the coming months following the devastating impact of the coronavirus pandemic on Latin America. As countries put lock downs in place earlier this year, the number of Central Americans migrating north dropped. From March to April, arrests on the US-Mexico border plummeted from 30,389 to just over 16,000, before gradually ticking up again, according to US Customs and Border Protection data. Ebbs and flows in migration are common, but after a pandemic that's taken the lives of thousands in Latin America, border experts expect that upward trend to continue as restrictions in Central America are eased. "We interviewed dozens of government and NGO leaders in Central America and Mexico, and there was a broad... (read more)

Worked to death: Latino farmworkers have long been denied basic rights. COVID-19 showed how deadly racism could be. Latinos were denied fair pay, leaving them vulnerable to COVID-19. In this six-part series, USA TODAY investigates how racism killed people of color. José Alfredo Reyes' wife and son pulled on personal protective gear and entered his San Diego hospital room. "Can you hear us?" Margarita Reyes said. Her husband's eyes remained shut, but his body twitched. She leaned in low to his ear and told him that his elderly mother, his children and his grandchildren would all be OK. She told him she loved him. Ten minutes later, José Alfredo Reyes, 59, was dead. José Alfredo Reyes, a longtime farmworker in this agricultural county of 181,000, is one of thousands in Imperial County to be sickened or killed by COVID-19, the disease spawned by the coronavirus. Imperial County, which is 85% Hispanic, has consistently had one of the highest death rates in the United States, at a time when... (read more)

Updated: October 8, 2020

U.S.-Mexico border strains under the weight of a partial closure. Street vendor Patricia Ramirez stares at the thinning line of cars along Juarez Avenue and moans with dread. Street vendor Patricia Ramirez stares at the thinning line of cars along Juarez Avenue and moans with dread. Ramirez is four months pregnant with her second child. She sells trinkets - everything from candy and gum to Mexican flags - mostly to people crossing the border. But there are few customers now and sales have declined by more than 70%, she said. She simply doesn't know how she'll make ends meet. It's been a little more than six months since the U.S. and Mexico restricted the border to "non-essential" traffic to curb the spread of the deadly coronavirus. Most people who live, work and study on both sides of the Rio Grande are not crossing the border. Overall, traffic is way down. But many continue to cross despite not being on "essential" errands. And COVID-19 is still out of control in both nations. Rivera says she understands why the restrictions... (read more)

Medical tourism was booming in Mexican border towns. then came the coronavirus. Americans and Canadians are reluctant to visit "Molar City" and other Mexican destinations due to confusion about COVID-19 travel restrictions. From Tijuana to Nuevo Progreso, Mexican towns near the U.S. made a big bet that the high cost of health care in the United States would bring patients and money south of the border for surgeries, dental care and prescription medicines. Yet amid the novel coronavirus pandemic, that bet has looked like less of a sure thing as travel ground to a halt, businesses shuttered and jobs disappeared. In Los Algodones, a small town bordered by California to the north and Arizona to the east, dentistry dominates the local economy. The town has just 5,000 residents, but it's home to hundreds of dental clinics, drugstores and other medical facilities meant not for locals but for foreigners. During the busy winter season, thousands of Americans and Canadians flock to Los Algodones for dental work that's 40% to 50% less expensive than in their home countries. That's why the town has earned the... (read more)

Six month after US-Mexico border closed, residents on both sides struggle to adapt. It's been more than six months since the U.S. and Mexico border closed to all but essential travel to slow the spread of COVID-19. The disruption of lives and livelihoods has been widespread on both sides during the pandemic. Marco Antonio Corral, 60, has watched it all unfold from the middle of the Paso del Norte Bridge where just over the borderline on the Mexican side he peddles potato chips and cold water to drivers and passengers stuck in idling cars calling out "Papitas! Agua!" The father of five says his sales have been cut in half since the shutdown started in March. "It's not right that Mexicans can't cross. They should close it to everyone to be fair," said Corral. Some U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents continue to go back and forth across the border. Mexican authorities do not stop visitors and U.S. Customs and Border Protection cannot prevent Americans from returning home from Mexico. On a recent afternoon, a line of cars and trucks waits to enter from Juarez and in El Paso people gather near the pedestrian entrance headed to Mexico. Marisol Marin crosses back and about three times a week to work in El Paso. She's a U.S. citizen but... (read more)

Updated: September 23, 2020

In border states, U.S., Mexico point fingers at each other over coronavirus spread. Uninsured Texans cross the Rio Grande into the Mexican border town of Matamoros in search of cheap prescriptions and affordable medical care. Some of them go to see Dr. Antonio Alfaro, an internal medicine specialist who treats a steady stream of patients with diabetes, hypertension and obesity - COVID-19 comorbidities common on both sides of the border. Entering Mexico for a medical appointment is considered essential travel under the pandemic border restrictions in place since March. But in recent weeks, U.S. border officials have started to carry out more checks on Americans returning from Mexico at land crossings - in a bid to limit non-essential travel and slow the spread of COVID-19. It's a move that rankles Dr. Alfaro, who oversees the COVID-19 response in Matamoros's main public hospital, especially as he sees more pandemic precautions being taken on the Mexican side, in the city opposite Brownsville, Tex. "You can't blame your neighbour for what's happening in your own home," Dr. Alfaro said. "When the... (read more)

Majority of kids who die of coronavirus are Hispanic, Black, or Native American, CDC finds. As students across the country return to classrooms, a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found the majority of children, teens and young adults who die from COVID-19 are Hispanic, Black or Native American. Researchers found there was a staggering racial disparity in the more than 390,000 coronavirus cases and 121 deaths among people under the age of 21 reported to the CDC between Feb. 12 and July 31. Hispanic, Black and Native American children accounted for 78% of those deaths even though those groups represent just 41% of the United States population, a disproportionate effect that reflects a similar disparity among adults. Previous research has shown that the death toll from COVID-19 is twice as high for people of color under the age of 65 as it is for white Americans. "The findings did not... (read more)

Medical care for migrants at border at risk of lapsing, government watchdog warns. The government watchdog office for the United States' border security agency warned Tuesday of a possible lapse in medical care services for migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border, which could pose a risk to the health of border agents and officers amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The Office of the Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security published a management alert, its most-urgent level of warning. U.S. Customs and Border Protection is running out of time to award a new contract to keep medical services uninterrupted, it said. The current contract, awarded in 2018 to Loyal Source Government Services of Orlando, Florida, for $136 million, is set to expire Sept. 29. That leaves CBP with less than three weeks to solicit proposals and award a new contract. "A lapse in onsite medical services at CBP facilities could jeopardize the health and safety of migrants in CBP custody, who may already be at higher risk of more severe illness from COVID-19," the OIG management alert said. On any given day, Loyal Source Government Services has about 440 medical professionals available at 67... (read more)

Updated: September 10, 2020

Essential workers face delays at U.S.-Mexico border due to new CBP regulations. U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials have instituted new policies to discourage nonessential travel across the Mexico border. It has resulted in major delays for essential workers as well. The U.S. border with Mexico has been closed to nonessential travel since March 21 due to the coronavirus. But despite those restrictions, cross-border traffic has increased since then. So U.S. Customs and Border Patrol has started using new tactics to discourage nonessential travel, and that's making it harder for those who need to cross for essential work. KPBS reporter Tania Thorne explains. TANIA THORNE, BYLINE: Andres Roberto Moreno is a Mexican food service worker who crosses daily for his job in California. He says that for the last month, he's had to... (read more)

Coyotes are now smuggling migrants back home after they've given up on America. Travel restrictions around COVID-19 across Latin America mean some of those who want to get back home have to do it illegally. Hazel Lazo was lucky. She made it to the United States from El Salvador with legal permission. That meant she didn't have to risk the epic journey via land from Central America that some don't survive. But within months, because of the pandemic, she ran out of money and options in the U.S and decided to go home. And she needed a people smuggler to do it. "I thought about all the people who want to be there, in the U.S, and they risk their lives to get there. We risked ours again, but in reverse this time, to get back to El Salvador," she said. Regional border closures in response to the threat of the coronavirus have generated a new migration phenomenon: migrants from Central American nations such as Honduras and El Salvador having to... (read more)

Border workers do not risk being late and prefer to sleep at the Otay Mesa gatehouse. At the pedestrian crossing people sleep in line waiting for the border to open. People have been sleeping in their cars at the Otay border to wait for the port of entry to open; it started happening after the hours of service of the border port of entry were reduced. Dozens of workers sleep on the sidewalk or in their cars to be the first to cross the border once the Otay Mesa gate opens. This image has been a constant since the port of entry, which previously operated 24 hours, closed at night. They can't afford to be late, so they prefer to sleep uncomfortably before risking the unpredictable lines at San Ysidro. Since the beginning of the month, the Otay Mesa gatehouse operates from 6 a.m. at 10 p.m., in response to a decrease in the volume of border crossings stemming from travel restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. In response, border traffic in the Tijuana-San Diego region is concentrated at the San Ysidro gate that... (read more)

Updated: August 27, 2020

Borderlands Foundations secure over US$89,920,000 in COVID-19 relief for families and communities. Foundations across the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands have established COVID-19 response funds to help families and communities in need. From San Diego to San Antonio philanthropic organizations have nearly US$90 million to support relief programs where they are most needed. Click here to see how foundations, corporations, community development programs, and local governments are collaborating in your community. You may also wish to consider a donation to the foundation nearest you.

Health and financial risks for noncitizen immigrants due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic has taken a disproportionate toll on some groups of individuals, including lower income individuals and people of color. One group who faces risks and challenges associated with the pandemic is the nearly 22 million noncitizen immigrants living in the U.S. today. Non-citizen immigrants were already facing a range of challenges prior to the pandemic, including increased fear and uncertainty due to shifting immigration policy that was leading some to turn away from accessing programs and services. As virus hotspots have risen in the Southern and Western regions of the country, with reports of increases in towns along the U.S.-Mexico border, understanding the risks and challenges facing noncitizen immigrants is of increasing importance. This brief analyzes key characteristics of noncitizen immigrants to examine the health and economic risks they face amid the pandemic. It finds: Noncitizen immigrants are more likely to live in large households and in... (read more)

Longer wait times expected at US border under new COVID-19 protocols. There will be additional lane closures and customs inspections. The U.S. will slow down the flow of traffic at select ports of entry on the Southwest border to further limit the spread of novel coronavirus by travelers coming from Mexico, a Customs and Border Protection official confirmed on Saturday. Non-essential travel has been limited since March, but the new measures may increase wait times at ports of entry in San Diego, California; Tucson, Arizona; and El Paso and Laredo, Texas. Reuters first reported on the additional lane closures and customs inspections that will likely delay anyone traveling for non-essential reasons. "We're committed to continuing to facilitate cross border movement of essential travelers," CBP spokesperson Nate Peeters said. "These measures are only intended to address non-essential travel with the ultimate goal of the further inhibiting the cross-border spread of COVID-19." The restrictions on... (read more)

The world needs to reopen borders before it's too late. Even as they struggle to control the pandemic, governments should move quickly to reopen borders instead of giving in to xenophobia, nationalism, and illusions of autarky. Right now, it is hard to imagine a greater threat to the world's well-being than the COVID-19 pandemic. More than 23 million people have tested positive for the virus-likely just a fraction of the actual spread-and more than 800,000 have died. The pandemic has battered the global economy, with the World Bank predicting global GDP to drop by more than 5 percent this year, a true worldwide depression far worse than the downturn in 2008 and 2009. But COVID-19 is not the biggest threat the world faces. An even greater danger today is rising nationalism, which threatens to undermine international cooperation on vital issues including not only global public health but climate change and trade. And government responses to the pandemic, which have focused on border closings, travel bans, and reshoring the production of medical and other goods, are fueling the narrative that foreign people and foreign goods are a source of danger and... (read more)

Updated: August 13, 2020

Borderlands Foundations secure over US$60,300,000 in COVID-19 relief for families and communities. Foundations across the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands have established COVID-19 response funds to help families and communities in need. From San Diego to San Antonio philanthropic organizations have raised over US$60 million to support relief programs where they are most needed. Click here to see how foundations, corporations, community development programs, and local governments are collaborating in your community. You may also wish to consider a donation to the foundation nearest you.

San Diego to offer coronavirus tests at US-Mexico border. Essential workers coming into the United States from Mexico and returning U.S. citizens will be offered the tests at the appointment-free, walk-up site. San Diego County plans to set up its first testing site for the coronavirus at one of the world's busiest pedestrian international border crossings, officials said Wednesday. County Supervisor Greg Cox said that the county will begin tests in about two weeks at the San Ysidro port of entry's PedWest crossing, which is exclusively pedestrian and connects Tijuana, Mexico to San Diego. An estimated 20,000 pedestrians enter the United States at the crossing daily, though that number has dropped with the pandemic and the shuttering of businesses. Essential workers coming into the United States from Mexico and returning U.S. citizens will be offered the tests at the appointment-free, walk-up site, Cox said. County officials expect to do... (read more)

Retirees living in Mexico worry about possible border plans aimed at COVID-19. Concerns continue to grow amid reports that President Trump may allow border officials to ban US citizens suspected of having coronavirus from re-entering the country. Five years ago, Les and Marilyn Widd retired and made a big move, buying an oceanfront home in Rosarito, Mexico. That dream retirement has suddenly been marred by worries about COVID-19 and a possible presidential action. According to published reports, President Trump is weighing rules to allow border officials to temporarily block an American citizen or legal permanent resident from entering, if there is reason to believe the person has coronavirus. "Absolutely upsetting, absolutely upsetting," said Les Widd, 70. Details about the possible plan are unknown, but Widd has heard enough. "It's violating your constitutional rights to receive treatment in your own country," said Widd. Widd says if either of them were to... (read more)

Ending 'asylum as we know it': Using pandemic to expel migrants, children at border. When a Salvadoran woman grabbed her 4-year-old daughter and fled their home country in February, the coronavirus wasn't yet a global pandemic. By the time they reached the U.S.-Mexico border a month later, that had changed. She crossed the Rio Grande, planning to ask for asylum. But Border Patrol agents took her and her daughter right back to Mexico, despite her pleas. "They told me they didn't care," the woman said in Spanish, asking us not to use her name, out of fear for her safety. "They didn't care what happened to my life. That I had to go - whether to Mexico, to El Salvador, to wherever I wanted, but I wasn't getting into the U.S." Since March, immigration officials have turned away tens of thousands of migrants like this woman and her daughter. They carried out more than 105,000 rapid expulsions through the end of July, under a public health order that... (read more)

Published: July 23, 2020

Vulnerable border community battles virus on 'a straight up trajectory.' In the Rio Grande Valley, poverty and chronic illness are aggravating the coronavirus outbreak. Ambulances stack up outside emergency rooms, where patients wait for beds. On a sweltering day last week near the southern tip of Texas, where high rates of poverty and chronic illness have heightened the ferocity of the coronavirus, Dr. Renzo Arauco Brown made his rounds, checking on patients who were facing severe complications from the virus and barely hanging on to life. The now-chaotic special infectious disease unit where he works has been clobbered with new admissions in recent weeks. Clinicians sweat under layers of protective gear and yell over constantly blaring alarms. Standing over a 63-year-old man whose lungs were taking in dangerous amounts of oxygen from a ventilator, Dr. Brown ordered medication to paralyze the man in hopes it would fix the problem. But it was one of many. The man had also suffered a severe stroke and blood clots because of the virus.

Asylum hearings at U.S.-Mexico border won't restart until COVID-19 criteria met; longer wait time likely. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Justice Department issued on Friday evening new guidance to resume court hearings for migrants who seek asylum in the United States but who are sent to Mexico to wait. The criteria, amid the backdrop of the global COVID-19 pandemic, is likely to result in longer wait times in Mexico for migrants as both countries continue to see the uncontrolled spread of the new coronavirus. Hearings were originally scheduled to resume on Monday for asylum seekers sent to Mexico under a policy called the Migrant Protection Protocols, but more informally known as "Remain in Mexico." Since rolling out the program in January 2019, the U.S. government has sent back more than 60,000 migrants. The new criteria does away with set dates, and instead relies on a series of conditions that must be met before court hearings resume. Those conditions are almost entirely dependent on states on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border gaining control of... (read more)

'This is a war': the coronavirus disaster in California's hardest-hit - and poorest - county. About 17 patients are airlifted out of Imperial county every day, as the virus takes a devastating toll on Latino residents. In southern California's Imperial county, the chuff-chuff of spinning helicopter blades has become a familiar noise. It's the sound of coronavirus patients being airlifted out - 15 to 17 a day, on average. This remote region along the US-Mexico border is under siege from Covid-19, and hospitals are stretched to the brink. Imperial county, population 181,000, is experiencing California's worst outbreak, according to several public health metrics. Over the last 14 days, the county's infection rate was more than 588 per 100,000 people - by far the highest in the state. As of Friday, the county had recorded 7,759 coronavirus cases and 132 fatalities. Adolphe Edward, the CEO for El Centro regional medical center, one of only two hospitals in the county, is reminded of medical operations he has overseen in Turkey, Oman and United Arab Emirates. More than 500 patients have already been... (read more)

How US immigration officials are spreading the coronavirus. At least one transfer led to a super-spreading event, when the ICE moved 74 detainees, more than half of which later tested positive for Covid-19; three weeks later, that had jumped to 315. Public health specialists have for months warned the US government that shuffling detainees among immigration detention centres will expose people to Covid-19 and help spread the disease. US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has continued the practice, saying it is taking all necessary precautions. It turns out the health specialists were right, according to a review of court records and ICE data. The analysis of immigration court data identified 268 transfers of detainees between detention centres in April, May and June, after hundreds in ICE custody had already tested positive for Covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. Half of the transfers identified involved detainees who were either moved from centres with Covid-19 cases to centres with no known cases, or from... (read more)

Updated:: July 9, 2020

Borderland Foundations secure over US$58 million to support families and communities impacted by COVID 19.  Since our last newsletter, community foundations from San Diego to San Antonio have secured an additional US$11 million dollars to support COVID 19 relief programs.  The generous spirit of Individual donors, small businesses, large corporations, donor advised funds, as well as local, regional, and state governments has responded forcefully to this pandemic. As of today, US$58 million dollars has been donated to support families, communities, nonprofit organizations, small businesses, and more. Click on the links below to see how these BPP member agencies are responding locally to help those most in need. Want to make a contribution? Select the organization nearest you and support their efforts. Need help for your nonprofit organization? Contact the foundation in your area to see how you may qualify for a grant or nonprofit loan.

In California, The San Diego Foundation, San Diego Gas & Electric, Alliance Healthcare Foundation, and United Way of San Diego County joined forces to support families in need and the local nonprofit sector with donations from local partners and donors to create the San Diego COVID-19 Community Response Fund. The International Community Foundation has established a new fund to support outreach activities in Mexico. San Diego Grantmakers is working with the City of San Diego to design and implement the City's Small Business Relief and Support Grant Program with a unique equity lens. The US-Mexico Border Philanthropy Partnership is able to assist you with fiscal agency support and can receive and distribute charitable donations on your behalf, as well as support in-kind gifts to the other side of the border.

In Arizona, the Arizona Community Foundation and their affiliate network established an emergency fund to support nonprofits responding to the Coronavirus and are raising and disbursing funds across the State. They also launched a new fund to support Latino-owned businesses. The Community Foundation for Southern Arizona crafted a community resource guide that is updated daily and has opened a new fund to provide grants and loans to support nonprofit organizations serving the local community.

In New Mexico, the Santa Fe Community Foundation launched the COVID-19 Response Fund to address critical gaps in food security and income during this unprecedented time. The Con Alma Health Foundation continues to be engaged and is providing key information resources as well as health related grants to agencies across the State. The Community Foundation for Southern New Mexico has opened an emergency fund to support nonprofits.

In Texas, the El Paso Community Foundation created the Coronavirus Fund to help people, and nonprofits in the local community deal with the financial pressures brought on by the pandemic. El Paso Community Foundation, FECHAC, and Desarrollo Económico also recently partnered on the UNIDOS Fund to secure additional PPE for hospital workers in Cd. Juarez. The Paso del Norte Health Foundation created the El Paso COVID-19 information hub, and the Paso del Norte Community Foundation is partnering with United Way of El Paso to support the El Paso COVID -19 Response Fund to support nonprofit organizations serving the most vulnerable in the community including the homeless and elderly. The San Antonio Area Foundation, United Way of San Antonio and Bexar Counties, and multiple partners have unveiled the COVID-19 Response Fund to support local nonprofits serving the economically vulnerable.

Please consider supporting one of these local funds established to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. Your gift joins thousands of others working to build a safe and resilient community in the Borderlands.

Published: July 9, 2020

Special Report: As cases surge, California struggles to slow COVID-19 in Latino communities. Gov. Gavin Newsom calls them the unsung heroes of the California economy in dangerous times. They are the workers, many of them Latino, who can't afford to shelter in place. They harvest crops, work shoulder to shoulder in factories, prep food in restaurant kitchens and put roofs on houses. Yet until recently, few local public health officers and experts in California focused on another fact about that group: Latinos of working age are getting sick and dying from the coronavirus in disproportionately high numbers. Now, the alarm bell has sounded. After virus testing sites branched out to more diverse communities in recent weeks, the grim severity of the situation is clear. "We have failed our under-served communities," said David Lubarsky, chief executive officer for UC Davis Health, speaking of the overall response to date to the pandemic. UC Davis partnered with Sacramento County and community groups such as La Familia on recent testing in more neighborhoods of color that... (read more)

Between borders. From a doctor stranded in Ciudad Juárez to a shelter closed after an outbreak, COVID-19 is hitting hard along the Texas-Mexico border. Leer en español. This is Part 1 of COVID-19 in the Immigration Pipeline-a series supported by the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, published by the Texas Observer in collaboration with the Border Center for Journalists and Bloggers. When news of the pandemic arrived, D.T. found herself locked in a cell on the U.S. side of the Paso del Norte bridge more than 1,700 miles from home, pregnant and desperate. The 26-year-old had fled Havana, Cuba in July 2019 to seek asylum after being labeled a dissident and beaten by police. Inside the cell, she began suffering abdominal pains. Perhaps they came from injuries suffered in the most violent of two attacks she'd endured during long months waiting in Ciudad Juárez for her asylum claim to be considered by a U.S. immigration judge. Two other pregnant women shared her cell in March-one looked like she could give birth any minute. D.T., a physician as well as an asylum-seeker, examined their bulging bellies and worried: "Can you imagine... (read more)

People with coronavirus are crossing the US-Mexico border for medical care. Chris Van Gorder says he's seeing a telling trend in the hospitals he runs. Coronavirus patients are showing up in emergency rooms after calling 911 from the US-Mexico border. "They'll literally come to the border and call an ambulance," says Van Gorder, president and CEO of Scripps Health, a hospital system in southern California. The rise in ambulance traffic from the border, which several officials described to CNN, is a symptom of the pandemic's spread in the region -- and a sign of the many connections between communities in both countries. "There just is not a wall for viruses at the border," says Josiah Heyman, director of the Center for Inter-American and Border Studies at the University of Texas at El Paso. "The wall is an illusion, because the two sides are really woven together." An increase in cross-border coronavirus cases, which... (read more)

Published: June 25, 2020

What's behind a COVID-19 spike in Imperial County. In late March, Imperial County had just nine confirmed cases of COVID-19, and the head of the largest hospital there thought his community had dodged a bullet. But Dr. Adolphe Edward soon realized his assessment was premature. "All of a sudden, we had 65 patients with COVID," Edward recounted during a recent interview, "which was over 70 percent of my hospital admissions." Today, the rural county on the U.S.-Mexico border with 180,000 residents has the highest coronavirus infection rate per capita of any California county. As of June 16, the county's public health department reported that 4,389 people had tested positive, and 52 people had died with the virus. The surge in cases is partly due to the county's location right on the international boundary, health officials say. Edward's hospital, the 150-bed El Centro Regional Medical Center, is just a half-hour drive north of Mexicali, a city with over a million residents in Baja California that has become... (read more)

In Ciudad Juárez, a new 'filter hotel' offers migrants a safe space to quarantine. Despite the coronavirus pandemic, Hotel Flamingo in Ciudad Juarez has been filling up with guests. When they arrive, they have to go through a thorough disinfection process. First, they step inside a tray filled with diluted bleach, to clean off the soles of their shoes. Then it's on to a handwashing station, where they're instructed to scrub with a generous amount of soap and follow up with a big squirt of hand sanitizer. Finally, they receive a fresh face mask, and the hotel coordinator sprays their shoes with an alcohol mixture. These guests aren't tourists on vacation. They're people who tried to cross into the U.S. but, for a variety of reasons, have been sent back to this border city and need a safe place to stay. Migrant shelters, which are trying to control the spread of COVID-19, can't immediately take them in. So Hotel Flamingo has been temporarily converted into a "filter hotel" - a space where they can quarantine for 14 days before transferring to a... (read more)

Coronavirus cases surge in Arizona's border counties. Arizona is seeing more COVID-19 cases statewide, but two small counties along the US-Mexico border are seeing particularly troubling trends. In the last month, Santa Cruz county has reported over 1,500 new cases and Yuma County has reported more than 3,000. That's a stark change from numbers those areas have seen in the past - Santa Cruz County had just 69 cases when Gov. Ducey lifted the stay at home order on May 15. Yuma County had 310. Gary Nabhan, an agricultural ecologist and a research social scientist at the University of Arizona, said these are agricultural hubs for the state and the country. Produce is harvested in farmland near Yuma and it's packed and delivered through the border in Nogales. Nabhan said both areas are staffed with essential workers who don't have the chance to stay home when sick. "Whether they're packing the produce in Nogales or... (read more)

Published: June 11, 2020

Border-crossers turn to bikes as lines stretch for hours. Between work in Nogales, Ariz. and family in Nogales, Sonora, Diego Baldenegro finds himself crossing the local border every three or four days. Until about a month ago, that meant getting into his car and crossing through the vehicle lanes at the local ports of entry. "Up until then, in the car it wasn't that bad," he said. "It was like an hour, an hour and a half. Now it's three to four hours, five (in the vehicle lanes), and so your car overheats." On Monday morning, Baldenegro rolled out of the DeConcini Port of Entry on a different set of wheels: a Mongoose mountain bike. "On the bike, it makes (crossing the border) a little easier," he said. Baldenegro is one of a growing number of local residents turning to two-wheeled transit as lines to cross the border on foot or in personal vehicles stretch for hours. Riders who spoke to the NI said that, in recent days, a separate bike line was forming to go through the downtown Dennis DeConcini Port of Entry, with U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers screening... (read more)

Coronavirus on the border: California hospitals overwhelmed by patients from Mexico. When Manuel Ochoa started feeling sick - his body sore, his breathing restricted - he drove from his mother's home in Mexicali, Mexico, to the U.S. border. The 65-year-old retiree parked his car at the international bridge and tried to drag himself to the country where he has permanent residency, and where his health insurance is valid. Just before he approached the Border Patrol checkpoint, he collapsed in the sun. That's when U.S. immigration officials made a call that has become increasingly common during the coronavirus outbreak: for an ambulance to transport a U.S. citizen or resident from the Mexican border to the nearest American hospital. As Mexico's health-care system has strained under the coronavirus, small community hospitals in Southern California, some of the poorest in the state, have been flooded with Americans who have fallen ill and crossed the border. They are retirees and dual citizens, American... (read more)

Mexican families struggle to send remains of virus victims back home. When Crescencio Flores died of coronavirus in New York, his parents back in Mexico asked for one thing: that their son be sent home for burial. The 56-year-old construction worker had been in the United States for 20 years, regularly sending money to his parents but never going home. Since he died in April, Flores' brother has been working with American and Mexican authorities to have the body transported to the town of Huehuepiaxtla in the state of Puebla. So far, his efforts have been in vain. His brother's embalmed remains are still in a U.S. funeral home. "I am trying to do this because my parents, 85 and 87 years old, live there," Francisco Flores said. "They are rooted in their customs. They want a Christian burial for the remains of their son." The family's situation is common. More than a thousand Mexican immigrants have died of the virus in the U.S., according to the Mexican government, and many... (read more)

Published: May 27, 2020

COVID's controversial "washing tunnels" for those crossing the U.S.-Mexico border.

Authorities in the Mexican city of Nogales, which borders Arizona, put those entering the country through a curious "disinfectant tunnel" to prevent the spread of COVID-19. That way, everyone who arrives in Nogales, Sonora, from the international "Mariposas" checkpoint -including pedestrians- must go through these tunnels where they are sprayed with a disinfectant that keeps the body clean and free of the virus for 24 hours, according to a statement from the municipality of Nogales. Health authorities in the region, who have announced that they will install more of these anti-COVID corridors at local border checkpoints, believe that most of the cases of coronavirus recorded in Nogales have been from people crossing from Arizona. There is sufficient data that argues the neighboring state's more than 13,000 confirmed infections could've helped with Sonora's 700, and 34 dead. However, there are those who... (read more)

Coronavirus cases jump along California-Mexico border.

The southernmost counties in California are witnessing an influx in cases. A Southern California county that shares a border with Mexico is seeing a spike in coronavirus cases. The Associated Press (AP) reports that El Centro, a farming community in Mexicali - a town in Mexico on the U.S.-Mexico border - is seeing a rise in coronavirus-related hospitalizations. Some believe this uptick stems from American citizens who live in Mexico coming to the U.S. for care. El Centro Regional Medical Center, located in the Imperial Valley and El Centro metro region, reportedly admitted 14 infected patients on Monday evening, pushing its coronavirus caseload to 65. The hospital temporarily stopped accepting COVID-19 patients due to the surge. As of May 21, the hospital is down to 52 coronavirus patients, per its Facebook page. Nearby Pioneer Memorial Hospital saw a similar... (read more)

U.S. returned at least 1,000 unaccompanied migrant children despite corona risks.

The United States has returned at least 1,000 unaccompanied migrant children to Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras since early March despite risks of violence and discrimination that have worsened because of the coronavirus pandemic, the United Nations children's agency UNICEF said on Thursday. Mexico has also returned at least 447 migrant children to Guatemala and Honduras over the same period, UNICEF said. It warned that children returned by the United States and Mexico faced added protection risks because of the perception they are infected with the coronavirus. "COVID-19 is making a bad situation even worse. Discrimination and attacks are now added to existing threats like gang violence that drove these children to leave in the first place," UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore said. "This means many returned children are now... (read more)

Published: May 13, 2020

San Diego to donate face shields to Tijuana as border command group works to address COVID-19.

San Diego, Tijuana cross-border cooperation proves strong during coronavirus pandemic. Proving the strength of the cross-border relationship between San Diego and Tijuana, today San Diego Mayor Kevin L. Faulconer will be joined by Tijuana Mayor Arturo González Cruz to announce the donation of 1,000 3D-printed face shields from the City of San Diego to the City of Tijuana for use in public hospitals. Mayor Faulconer will also detail a new regional working group that tracks and monitors the pandemic in San Diego and Baja California. "COVID-19 knows no boundaries, so our border region is working together to monitor the situation in Baja and preparing for healthcare impacts in the San Diego region should they arise," Mayor Faulconer said. "San Diego and Tijuana are in this... (read more)

Americans waiting out coronavirus in Canadian and Mexican border cities reflect on time away.

Citizens say they feel more comfortable outside U.S. They are Americans from two different worlds, but when the coronavirus pandemic hit the U.S. hard, they decided to take the same step -- riding it out across the border. Cities such as Toronto and Vancouver in Canada and Puerto Peñasco in Mexico are some of the places that Americans are taking shelter in during the crisis, and many say they have few regrets. While they miss their family and friends back home, the ex-pats say they feel more comfortable in their current locations, since the U.S. leads the world in cases and deaths by a large margin. Canada has some 67,000 cases and less than 5,000 deaths and Mexico 29,000 cases and less than 3,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University. New York state alone has more cases and deaths than both countries combined (330,000 cases and 21,000 deaths). "It's a strange feeling not being able to see your parents, but I know that we're... (read more)

U.S. suspends protections for migrant kids at border, expelling hundreds amid pandemic.

María does not know what to do. Her request for U.S. asylum was denied. Her authorization to be in Mexico, contingent on having an ongoing U.S. immigration case, has expired. And now, the U.S. has sent her 10-year-old son alone to Honduras, where she fled an abusive partner who threatened to kill her if she returns. After losing their asylum case under the Remain-in-Mexico policy, which has granted protection to just 1.1% of the migrants who have completed their proceedings under the program, María allowed Jesús, her young son, to cross the border alone to turn himself over to U.S. officials, thinking he would be allowed to reunite with family in Texas and seek refuge in the U.S. under long-standing policies for unaccompanied migrant minors. Instead, Jesús was placed on a... (read more)

Border Report: 'Tijuana is facing a different kind of crisis'.

The border is taking a leading role in the region's conversations about how to slow the spread of the coronavirus. Not only are South Bay ZIP codes showing a higher number of cases, but a far greater share of coronavirus tests administered to patients there are coming back positive. Tijuana has been hit hard by COVID-19. The city has the some of the highest numbers of coronavirus-related deaths per capita in Mexico at 173. As of Sunday, Baja California had a total of 1,660 confirmed cases. An analysis by the magazine Zeta found that the state's working class has been hit particularly hard. Dozens of coronavirus victims are being buried in an already-packed graveyard in Tijuana, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports. County officials and hospital leaders have started sounding the alarm. They've asked the U.S. government for assistance to help Mexico respond to the crisis, and help San Diego prevent and... (read more)

The COVID-19 effect on U.S.-Mexico border cities.

What were once bustling centers of activity are ghost towns with rising case counts. About a month ago was one of the most popular weeks for crossing the U.S.-Mexico border. Semana Santa, the week that precedes Easter is a time usually reserved for a trip to the Mexican coastline for many on either side of the border. The travel also provides a welcome flush of cash for those in the vital tourism industry of the region, making sure they too, eat well for Easter Sunday.But this year, with coronavirus grinding travel to a standstill, the reality was much less festive. A major economic hit. An hour from the Arizona-Mexico border, in the resort town of Puerto Peñasco, Maria Eugenia Zacatelco Montiel would normally have had to schedule extra boat tours during Holy Week. Instead, she had to lay off all but 10 of her 24 staff members from her... (read more)

Published: April 30, 2020

Texas farmworkers struggle without government aid and coronavirus protection.

In the predawn light, Francisco Garcia kisses his two daughters and whispers that he'll be back after work. He makes his living harvesting onions near the South Texas town of Mercedes, a few miles from the Mexican border. "For an indocumentado like me, this is how we make a living. For us, there is no coronavirus. My kids and my wife depend on what I bring in every day and that's it," said Garcia, 40. "Why? Because we don't have benefits, nobody's helping us." More than half of the 2.5 million farmworkers in the U.S. are undocumented. But while their presence is considered illegal, their work amid the coronavirus pandemic is far from that - the Department of Homeland Security has deemed farm work an "essential" service. Farmworkers and their advocates are concerned about their working conditions, comparing them to... (read more)

"Exporting the virus": Migrants deported by U.S. make up 20% of Guatemala's coronavirus cases.

When it unveiled an unprecedented order last month to swiftly expel virtually all unauthorized migrants from the U.S. southern border, the Trump administration said potentially infected foreigners could spread the coronavirus in the U.S., prompt outbreaks in immigration jails and strain public health resources along border communities. But in a paradoxical twist, Guatemala, the largest source of migration to the U.S.-Mexico border in recent years, fears the U.S. is exporting the virus there through deportation flights. At least 99 migrants recently deported to Guatemala by the U.S. have tested positive for coronavirus as of Sunday, according to the nation's public health ministry. Deportees from the U.S. make up nearly 20% of the... (read more)

Some border area U.S. citizens will not be getting stimulus checks.

Tom Kobylecky is a truck driver from Chicago. He lives in Reynosa, Tamaulipas, which has been his home for over ten years. Indeed that ten-year period is in itself very significant because he has lived just across the border with his entire family for ten years on the advice of his immigration attorney. After living in Reynosa for ten years, the Kobylecky family were beginning to see light at the end of the tunnel. His Mexican wife was waiting for an appointment at the U.S. Consulate in Ciudad Juarez to apply for legal residency. Then along came the COVID-19 pandemic, and a series of administrative rulings by the Trump administration that have put dark clouds on the horizon. The most recent, a ruling that excludes U.S. citizens married to immigrants without a social security number to receive stimulus checks. "I really haven't been affected too much by COVID-19 other than having to spend... (read more)

Published: April 16, 2020

Coronavirus on the border: Why Mexico has so few cases compared with the U.S.

The U.S.-Mexico border has long been a region of contrasts. But people in both countries are puzzling over the latest one: The number of confirmed cases of the coronavirus on the Mexican side is just a small fraction of the U.S. count. On Sunday, confirmed cases in California topped 6,200, compared with just 23 in Baja California. Arizona had 919 cases, dwarfing the 14 in neighboring Sonora. New Mexico reported 237 cases; in Chihuahua state, there were six. The U.S.-Mexico border is the busiest in the world, with an estimated 1 million legal crossings per day. The neighbors' economies are intertwined. So why is there such a big difference in cases? The disparity reflects, in part, a time lag. Mexico did not report its first case until Feb. 27 - a month after the virus was detected in the United States. To date, the country has counted 993 cases, less than 1 percent of the U.S. total. But Mexico is also pursuing an unorthodox strategy. It is relying less on tests, and more on... (read more)

Scenes from the U.S.-Mexico border during coronavirus pandemic.

Members of an asylum-seeker family remain in a tent at the Juventud 2000 migrant shelter in Tijuana, Baja California State, Mexico, on April 3, 2020 during the novel coronavirus, COVID-19, pandemic. Thousands of migrants overcrowding shelters or begging in the streets in Mexican cities along the US border are living in fear as the novel coronavirus spreads in the population and screening interviews for asylum seekers are being suspended. (Photo by Guillermo ARIAS / AFP). See complete gallery here.

Border families express concern over border COVID-19 restrictions.

Families who are divided by the border tell KTSM they are growing concerned with the spread of COVID-19 after restrictions were put in place two weeks ago at border crossings for essential travel only. "It's all too common, we have a lot of families who have been separated by our immigration laws, where you have family members who have been deported and are living on the Mexican side," said Immigration Lawyer Iliana Holguin. She explained tough situations are being made worse. "It's hard enough being separated from your family members like that during normal times and it's even more difficult when we're talking about the situation that we're in right now," Holguin said. Patricia Miramontes told KTSM it's affecting her now. Two years ago Miramontes husband was deported, now she lives in El Paso while her husband and daughter live in Juárez. "I go to Juarez every weekend, I don't ever miss," said Miramontes. She explained she's lucky she... (read more)

Published on: March 26, 2020

Coronavirus border travel restrictions start to impact daily life.

Mexican residents with legal visas began to be turned away from the U.S. Saturday morning. Martin Arce, a Tijuana factory worker, spent the past week manufacturing respirators that are being shipped throughout the U.S. to fight to coronavirus pandemic. Work was so hectic, that Arce didn't have time to pay his phone bill. Because unlimited plans are cheaper in San Diego than they are in Tijuana, Arce has a plan from Cricket Wireless. And because his phone is now shut off and he doesn't have a computer, Arce has to cross the border to pay his bill in person. But when he tried to cross through the San Ysidro Port of Entry Saturday morning, Arce was turned away because of new restrictions prohibiting "non-essential" cross-border travel. The restrictions, announced Friday by President Donald Trump, went into effect just after midnight Eastern time Saturday - 9 p.m. Friday here. The goal is to stem the spread of the coronavirus by limiting cross-border travel while still protecting trade and commerce. A similar deal is... (read more)

South Texas COVID-19 cases spike on border with Mexico.

Fears the virus will infect a Mexican border tent encampment where thousands of asylum-seekers live. The number of cases of COVID-19 in two South Texas border counties dramatically spiked on Saturday night totaling five cases with the announcement of the first confirmed case in Hidalgo County and several in Cameron County, health officials said. Hidalgo County Judge Richard Cortez on Saturday night announced that a coronavirus case was confirmed in McAllen, which is the largest city in the border county. That triggered the county to order the Hidalgo County Division of Emergency Management to go into a Level 1 Operational status, the county's highest. "We knew this day was coming and we are prepared," Cortez said in a statement. "This is a highly contagious disease and residents should not be surprised - or alarmed - that others in Hidalgo County will likely contract the virus." The news..(read more)

A closed border, dashed hopes and a looming disaster.

The United States, citing the coronavirus, is shutting off access for anyone trying to claim asylum from the Mexican border. Tania Bonilla arrived in this Mexican border city on Wednesday determined to apply for asylum in the United States. With her 1-year-old in tow, she had defied the odds - evading a death sentence by a Honduran gang at home, she said, as well as deportation by the Mexican authorities at the southern border and kidnapping by smugglers en route. But now, in eyeshot of an international bridge connecting the Mexican city of Ciudad Juárez to the United States, a new and even more serious obstacle presented itself: the coronavirus. In response to its rapid spread, which has claimed about 13,000 lives worldwide, the United States government announced on Friday that in addition to closing the Mexican border to nonessential traffic, it would shut off access for anyone trying to claim asylum from the border. In practice, the United States will deport anyone caught crossing between official ports of entry, including.. (read more)

Philanthropy responds to COVID-19 in the Borderlands.

wE THANK THE SAN DIEGO FOUNDATION FOR OUR COMMUNITY OFFICE SPACE AT THE MALIN BURNHAM CENTER FOR CIVIC ENGAGEMENT:
2508 Historic Decatur Rd., Suite 130, San Diego, CA 92106

Phone +1 (619) 814-1388 | Fax +1 (619) 814-1389
E-mail: info@borderpartnership.org

Philanthropy responds to COVID-19 in the Borderlands.

wE THANK THE SAN DIEGO FOUNDATION FOR OUR COMMUNITY OFFICE SPACE AT THE MALIN BURNHAM CENTER FOR CIVIC ENGAGEMENT: 2508 Historic Decatur Rd., Suite 130, San Diego, CA 92106

Phone +1 (619) 814-1388 | Fax +1 (619) 814-1389E-mail: info@borderpartnership.org

wE THANK THE SAN DIEGO FOUNDATION FOR OUR COMMUNITY OFFICE SPACE AT THE MALIN BURNHAM CENTER FOR CIVIC ENGAGEMENT:
2508 Historic Decatur Rd., Suite 130, San Diego, CA 92106

Phone +1 (619) 814-1388 | Fax +1 (619) 814-1389
E-mail: info@borderpartnership.org