US business near border struggle with boundaries’ closure during COVID-19 pandemic

Small Businesses across border towns in the U.S. are reeling from the economic fallout of the partial closure of America’s international boundaries. To curb the spread of the virus, restrictions on nonessential travel were put in place a year ago and have been extended almost every month since, with exceptions for trade, trucking, and crucial supply chains.

Small businesses, residents and local chambers of commerce say the financial toll has been steep, as have the disruptions to life in communities where it’s common to shop, work and sleep in two different countries.

Border communities are those that rely economically, socially, and health-wise upon the daily and essential travel of tourist visa holders, the presidents of 10 chambers of commerce in Arizona, Texas and California border cities wrote in a letter last month to the Homeland Security and Transportation departments, requesting the government to allow visitors with U.S. tourist visas to cross into their states.

Many hope the restrictions will soon be eased as more Americans are vaccinated against COVID-19 and infection rates fall.

U.S. Senator Susan Collins asked the Biden administration last month to reconsider U.S.-Canada border restrictions, arguing “common-sense exceptions” such as family visits or daily commerce should be made for border towns where infection rates were low.

The Department of Homeland Security, however, announced that the U.S., Mexico and Canada agreed to extend border restrictions on nonessential travel through April 21.

Meanwhile, Democratic U.S. Rep. Raúl Grijalva of Arizona has introduced a bill to provide small businesses within 25 miles of a U.S. border with loans of up to $500,000 or grants of $10,000.

“Cross-border traffic is the lifeblood of their economy. And it’s the people that walk over, the people that come to do retail shopping,” Grijalva has said.

Visitors from Mexico contribute an estimated 60% to 70% of sales tax revenue in Arizona border communities, according to the Arizona-Mexico Commission.

In Texas, border cities have faced higher unemployment rates during the pandemic than the state average, though in some places that had already been the case.