U.S.-Mexico Border Non-Essential Travel Restrictions Extended to February 21, 2021, Border Counties Dealt Another Financial Blow
By: Ricardo E. Calderon, Eagle Pass Business Journal, Inc., Copyright 2021
At the request of the Mexican government, the U.S.-Mexico border non-essential travel restrictions initially placed on March 21, 2020 between the two countries have been extended for another month until February 21, 2021 allegedly due to the surge of COVID-19 infections in both countries.
U.S. citizens and permanent lawful residents do not fall under the travel restrictions and are free to travel to and from Mexico. However, the non-essential travel restrictions apply to anyone seeking a tourist or border-crossing visa to enter the U.S. from Mexico.
Since all U.S.-Mexico border counties rely primarily on Mexican tourists and retail consumers to purchase retail goods, travel, and make other purchases in the United States, the non-essential travel border restrictions have caused a significant loss of revenues for businesses and public governmental entities along the border who depend on international bridge revenues, sales tax revenues, hotel occupancy room tax revenues, ad valorem property taxes, and trade.
A recent study by Dr. Jose Ivan Rodriguez-Sanchez at the Baker Institute Center for U.S. and Mexico at Rice University found that the Texas-Mexico border counties sustained an economic impact loss of $4.9 Billion during the first eight months of the border non-essential travel restrictions (March-November 2020). The extension of these restrictions until February 21, 2021 will cause significant additional financial losses to all U.S.-Mexico border counties.
Many U.S. businesses along the U.S.-Mexico border have had to close due to the loss of revenues and sales from Mexican tourists and retail consumers. In some border communities, as many as 30% of small businesses and restaurants have had to close due to the effect of these non-essential travel restrictions on their budgets.
The City of Eagle Pass and Maverick County, Texas have sustained large losses in international bridge revenues, sales taxes, hotel occupancy taxes, and other revenues associated to Mexican international trade. The City of Eagle Pass has reported losing between $450,000 to $600,000 monthly since the implementation of these restrictions. Many downtown businesses have closed due to lack of business from Mexican retail consumers.
The extension of the U.S.-Mexico border non-essential travel restrictions until February 21, 2021 will certainly cause more small businesses to close and financially hurt public governmental entities’ fiscal budgets from the loss of tax revenues.
