Covid at the U.S.-Mexico Border

The situation with increased immigration at the U.S. Mexico border isn’t mixing well with Covid-19

By Chloe Stearns

Canada and the United States have agreed to extend the ban on nonessential travel between the United States and Canada through May 21, 2021. Government leaders in both countries first announced the border closure more than one year ago on March 21, 2020, and have extended the order on a near-monthly basis since.

All travelers coming to Canada by land or air, are required to provide travel, contact, and quarantine information through ArriveCAN, within 72 hours of their arrival.

ArriveCAN app logo, created and published by the government of Canada.

Moving from the northern to southern U.S. border, President Biden has made a number of recent changes. He paused the construction of the southern border wall, offered permanent protection for young migrants in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, known as "Dreamers" and created a task force to reunite migrant families who were separated at the U.S.-Mexico border by former President Trump's 2018 "zero-tolerance" border strategy.

According to Representative Henry Cuellar (D-Texas), the United States Border Patrol in the Rio Grande Valley Sector has apprehended 10,000 migrants in the past seven days. He said the U.S. may be,

"weeks, maybe even days, away from a crisis at the southern border."