• COST: Travel restrictions at the US-Mexico border have had an unprecedented impact on Texas border counties with US $4.9 billion in GDP losses between March and November due to the drastic drop in Mexican shoppers, a new report by Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy shows.
•REDUCTION: Focusing on nine Texas border, the report estimates that the reduction of Mexican nationals crossing into Texas (230,000 in pre-pandemic days) has not only had an impact on the retail and hospitality sectors but also on employment and tax collection.
• UNPRECEDENTED: “Mexican tourists and shoppers are a key component of these economies, and without them, the losses are likely to be unprecedented…It seems that ‘non- essential’ Mexican travelers are, in fact, essential”, Jorge Ivan Rodríguez-Sánchez, the author of the study, writes.
• EXTENSION: Mimicking a similar measure on the Canadian border since the appearance of the coronavirus pandemic, the US announced last week that restrictions to travel in the Mexican border will continue in place through January 21. Some South Texas Congressmen have called for changes to the travel restrictions.
