The United States on Friday closed lanes at select ports of entry in the border with Mexico and will conduct more secondary tests to restrict non-essential travel and the spread of coronavirus, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) official said.
Non-essential travel has been restricted at the boundary since March, but U.S. citizens and permanent residents may still enter the United States from Mexico. The new measures are directed at those travelers, the CBP official said.
U.S. President Donald Trump, who faces re-election Nov. 3, has taken a set of sweeping steps to scale back immigration throughout the coronavirus pandemic, including emergency border rules that allow U.S authorities to quickly deport migrants arrested at the border.
The United States leads the world with more than 174,000 confirmed deaths in the coronavirus, followed by Brazil with 112,000 and Mexico with 59,000, according to a Reuters tally.
"We want people to think twice about non-essential traveling and to inquire if the travel is worth devoting their lives and the lives of others," El Paso CBP spokesman Roger Maier said in a written statement.
CBP stated it would take steps to reduce non-essential traveling at more than a dozen border crossings in Texas, Arizona and California. The wait for passenger vehicles in those ports of entry on Friday evening ranged from no wait to several hours.
The Trump government had been considering a measure to obstruct U.S. citizens and residents from arriving home when they were suspected of being infected with the coronavirus, Reuters reported that this month. The plan was blasted by some hospitals, U.S. expats and immigrant advocacy groups.
Senior White House officials have decided against the proposal, according to two officials familiar with the deliberations, though it remains unclear whether it could be resurrected.
Non-essential travel has been restricted at the boundary since March, but U.S. citizens and permanent residents may still enter the United States from Mexico. The new measures are directed at those travelers, the CBP official said.
U.S. President Donald Trump, who faces re-election Nov. 3, has taken a set of sweeping steps to scale back immigration throughout the coronavirus pandemic, including emergency border rules that allow U.S authorities to quickly deport migrants arrested at the border.
The United States leads the world with more than 174,000 confirmed deaths in the coronavirus, followed by Brazil with 112,000 and Mexico with 59,000, according to a Reuters tally.
"We want people to think twice about non-essential traveling and to inquire if the travel is worth devoting their lives and the lives of others," El Paso CBP spokesman Roger Maier said in a written statement.
CBP stated it would take steps to reduce non-essential traveling at more than a dozen border crossings in Texas, Arizona and California. The wait for passenger vehicles in those ports of entry on Friday evening ranged from no wait to several hours.
The Trump government had been considering a measure to obstruct U.S. citizens and residents from arriving home when they were suspected of being infected with the coronavirus, Reuters reported that this month. The plan was blasted by some hospitals, U.S. expats and immigrant advocacy groups.
Senior White House officials have decided against the proposal, according to two officials familiar with the deliberations, though it remains unclear whether it could be resurrected.