The mayor of the popular Sonoran beach town Puerto Peñasco, or Rocky Point, says he’s been informed by U.S. officials that it’s possible border travel restrictions could end later this month.
Mayor Kiko Munro said there’s a “high probability” that restrictions at the U.S.-Mexico border will be lifted by late March — information he says came from a Lukeville port official.
Buenas noticias para los mexicanos y para los peñasquenses, existe una alta probabilidad de que se levanten las restricciones de viajes esenciales a Estados Unidos a partir del 22 de marzo, así me lo comunicó, Peter J Bachelier Director del Puerto Fronterizo de Lukeville, AZ.
— Kiko Munro (@KikoMunro) March 4, 2021
Last month the Department of Homeland Security extended agreementswith Mexico and Canada to keep land borders shut through March 21 — one year since travel restrictions were initially implemented as the pandemic first surged in the United States.
In a press release Thursday, Munro called the potential reopening “good news for Mexicans and Rocky Point residents," many of whom have been unable to cross into the United States since last spring.
The travel restrictions are 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. But many U.S. citizens and permanent residents have still been able to cross the border freely, because of minimal southbound enforcement, and because their return trips to the United States from Mexico are considered essential, according to federal rules. Most of their neighbors in Mexico, however, have been unable to cross because of the restrictions.
