Long border wait times to be expected if travel restrictions are lifted

TIJUANA, Baja California (KYMA, KECY) - Mexican officials said border waiting times would be longer than usual once the travel restriction is lifted.

La Voz de la Frontera reported current restrictions would remain in effect until May 21. However, the Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said officials would lift travel restrictions at the border soon.

The Smart Border Coalition executive director, Gustavo de la Fuente, said, "The president did not give any date either. So it could soon mean a month, three months, five months. We don't really know." He adds that even with limitations for citizens or residents means the problem could worsen.

De la Fuente tells La Voz, “You also have to think that if it opens overnight, that we would agree that this should happen, what will the effect be on the lines? If they are already very long at the beginning because fewer officers or CBP agents are going south to north. The situation is a bit more complex than we think."

Non-essential travel restrictions at the border were placed since the start of the pandemic, on March 21, 2020.