The U.S.-Mexico border reopens to hugs, tears and family reunions

EL PASO — After almost 20 months of restrictions, the United States reopened its land border with Mexico on Monday to allow the entry of non-essential travelers who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

At 10:01 p.m. local time —12: 01 a.m. Eastern time — hundreds of people who had waited at the Santa Fe International Bridge, which connects the centers of the sister cities of El Paso and Ciudad Juárez, were allowed to cross into the U.S.

Martha Ochoa Moreno, 68, was one of the first people to cross after showing proof that she’s had the AstraZeneca vaccine. She was meeting her 28-year-old granddaughter Laura Tinajero, whom she had not seen since the border closed in March 2020.

“There is nothing like being able to hug (loved ones); video calls helped us a lot all during those months, but it’s not the same. Today I will finally be able to hug my granddaughter,” said Ochoa Moreno, who lives in Ciudad Juárez.

Prior to the restrictions, Ochoa Moreno crossed several times a week to visit family and shop.

As the first minutes of Monday ticked by, Ochoa Moreno showed her vaccination card and visitor’s visa to authorities and walked across the border. Aside from hugs, she also had with her treats for her granddaughter.

“I brought her a few things; Karo brand syrup that she likes a lot but she can not find it here” in the U.S., she said. “I did not want to bring her many things because I was afraid that they would throw them out or say something. But no, the agents (were) very nice, I just showed them my certificate and my visa and that was it.”

Among the treats was a packet of Abuelita chocolate powder and a mug bearing the image of Mexican painter Frida Kahlo. The family planned to go to Target and Walmart on Monday.

The reopening of the border happened on a crisp 60-degree night with little traffic crossing the international bridges.

The crossing of visitors and tourists on “non-essential” trips had been restricted since March 21, 2020, as a measure to contain the COVID-19 pandemic.

The White House announced in early October the lifting of restrictions for visitors who enter by land or air who present proof that they are fully vaccinated.

Thousands of visitors are expected to arrive Monday at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. More than 80 international flights were scheduled to arrive that day alone.

The removal of the restrictions that were imposed during the Trump administration comes as a relief for tens of thousands of families who have been separated since the beginning of the pandemic.

One of those cases is that of the 60-year-old Ramón Delgado, originally from the city of Chihuahua, and his sister Bertha Galván, 71, a resident of El Paso.

“I was very happy because (we had) not seen each other for a long time since the pandemic began,” said Delgado, an engineer. “My sister got COVID, not me, and I was scared. And that’s why I really wanted to see her and give her a hug.”

Delgado said that he arrived at the international bridge at 5 p.m. Sunday because he wanted to be one of the first to cross to El Paso. At 10:01 p.m. MT, U.S. border officials allowed him to cross after showing his visitor visa and his vaccination certificate.

“They only asked me if I was vaccinated and I said, ‘Yes.’ I showed them my voucher and that was all. They all were very kind” at the crossing checkpoint, Delgado added.

After he crossed, Delgado waited about 20 minutes for his sister to arrive. When she rolled up in a white van, she hugged him and gave him a kiss on the cheek while he spoke into her ear.

“There is a lot of emotion to finally be able to hug him; the truth was I was afraid. I thought they were not going to let people through. When he called me and said, ‘I’m here,’ I didn’t believe it, “said Galván as she wiped away tears.

Under the new travel rules, air crossing U.S. authorities are only allowing entry to people if they’ve had vaccines approved by the World Health Organization. The Sputnik V and CanSino vaccines, administered to millions of people in Mexico, are not yet on that list.

Furth down the Rio Grande, at the Presidio-Ojinaga border crossing, trucker Efrain Olivas Mendoza urged border residents to be patient as things slowly get back to normal.

“Lines will be long. I hope U.S. Customs is prepared because many people want to cross,” he said.

Olivas has already been crossing the border; trade traffic deemed “essential” has never stopped. Olivas urged U.S. Rep Tony Gonzalez, R-El Paso, to push for more lanes on the Ojinaga-Presidio International Bridge. “That bridge is our lifeline,” he said.

Lines traditionally are so slow, added Mercedes Leon Chico, chief of staff for the mayor in Ojinaga, “that you can get quicker to EL Paso than cross into Presidio,” referring to the line that can last more than four hours before crossing. “Lines are not good for the economy.”

“A nosotros nos fortalecio,” said Israel Beltran Silva, editor of BM Radio Ojinaga. We benefited from the bridge closure.

He explained that most Americans continued to cross the border during the pandemic while most Mexicans were banned. The COVID-19 measure largely barred all Mexican nationals from crossing to see family and friends, attending social gatherings, going to medical appointments or shopping. That meant they spent more in Mexico.

Melissa S. Franco, the federal representative in Ojinaga, known as a delegada, said, “As sister cities, we need each other to survive.” She said the reopening “couldn’t happen at a better time with the holidays approaching.”

All along the border, the pandemic travel restrictions carried costs beyond money. The closure was measured in missed quinceñeras, birthdays, graduations, funerals and births and it impacted everyone, including the family of Presidio Mayor John Ferguson, who grew up in Garland. His son-in-law is a Mexican citizen and lives in Ojinaga, Chihuahua. When his granddaughter was born in July, the Ferguson family wasn’t able to “have him up there for the birth, but you know, we’ve managed pretty well and we have a beautiful granddaughter,” he said.

His son-in-law didn’t meet his daughter until the Ferguson family crossed into Mexico. Exceptions were made, like when Mexican firemen were allowed to cross into Presidio, escorted by U.S. law enforcement officials. It was “a pretty cool” sight, said City Administrator Brad Newton.

In El Paso, as evening fell on Sunday night, border residents who are either U.S. citizens or U.S. permanent residents were rushing back into Mexico, eager to “avoid long lines,” said Olivia Fuentes, 32, carrying two large grocery bags. “I have no idea what to expect but a lot of my friends plan to cross this week. I fear it will be chaotic.”