In their June 8, 2021, Mexico Travel Advisory, the U.S. Department of State, at travel.state.gov, warns citizens about travel to Mexico. The Advisory recommends reconsideration of travel in Mexico due COVID 19 and issued “Do Not Travel To” warnings for five Mexican states including Tamaulipas, which borders Texas, due to crime. The warning for Tamaulipas also listed kidnapping as a risk.
The Advisory recommends “Reconsider Travel To” another 11 Mexican states, four of them bordering the U.S. Those bordering states are Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo Leon, and Sonora with all warnings due to crime. Texas is also bordered by Nuevo Leon, Coahuila and Chihuahua. New Mexico is bordered by Chihuahua while Arizona is bordered by Sonora.
Little, if any, of this has been reported in the media. To the contrary, most of the media is totally ignoring these Advisories as well as the tens of thousands of people crossing into the U.S. from Mexico in what has become routine over the past four months.
On June 16, 2021, after pleas for help from every state in the nation from Texas’ Governor Greg Abbott and Arizona’s Governor Doug Ducey, Florida Governor Ron De Santis announced that his state would be sending assistance in helping stem illegal immigration in Texas and Arizona communities.
In his announcement De Santis said, “America’s border security crisis impacts every state and every American. The Biden Administration ended policies … that were curbing illegal immigration, securing our border, and keeping Americans safe.”
On June 17, 2021 Idaho’s Governor Brad Little followed suit by announcing that he too would be sending law enforcement to the border to help ranching families and the country as a whole.
Three Florida state agencies and nine county sheriff’s offices are already lined up to go to the border to assist and coordinate with law enforcement agencies’ at the border.
Often Mexico is only the gateway to the U.S. These crossing are from multiple countries around the world. Estimates are that immigrants are coming from well over 50 countries around the world. There are more than 200 travel advisories on from the State Department ranging from do not travel to exercise extreme caution. Determining how many of these advisories are due to COVID is a major research project, but it would be a good bet that it covers many of them.
The COVID 19 situation as it related to the border isn’t being mentioned by any media. Yet in May 2021 the U.S. Customs & Border Protection (CBP) reports that 180,034 illegal immigrants crossed into the country. That is up slightly from April 2021 which was 178,854. These numbers do not account for the “got a-ways” that officials estimate to be one-third to one-half of those counted.
Even more alarming is that most of these individuals are allowed into the U.S. with only preliminary COVID 19 screening. Those who exhibit symptoms are referred to local health officials that are already over-burden with immigrant issues.
Vaccinations are available to immigrants, but no statistics are available on how many are receiving them. It is reported nightly that all that needs to be done to stop COVID 19 in the U.S. is to get vaccinated.
Clearly the State Department views crime in Mexico as a critical issue. Crime in Mexico has long spilled over into neighboring U.S. states.
However, presently one only national media outlet is consistently covering the border at all and that coverage is focused on Texas, which has the longest stretch of Mexican border. There is an occasional print news story or video that points out the plight of ranchers in New Mexico, Texas and Arizona.
The gaps in the border wall all across the border creates funnels that allow unfettered illegal entry into the U.S. Texas has begun completion of the border wall in that state.
Members of Congress from both parties continue to press for the Vice President who was tasked with border issues (as opposed to the crisis Americans are facing) to come to the border and address the problems that are not limited to COVID and crime.
The U.S. can ill-afford the human and financial cost of continuing the COVID crisis or the cost of the rampant crime by the cartels moving freely into our country. Now is the time to demand action from state and federal elected officials.
Caren Cowan is the executive director of Protect Americans Now, an organization based in Elephant Butte, New Mexico dedicated to educating the public about threats to private property and land use rights.