One of President Trump’s major promises was to build a massive wall on the US-Mexican border to prevent “illegals” from entering into the US. However, Trump has utterly failed to make good on his promise to “build the wall.”
But not to worry, for in light of COVID-19 and out of a fear that COVID-19 infected Americans may attempt to come into Mexico, Mexican patriots are “making Mexico great again” by setting up checkpoints to prevent American border crossers from coming into Mexico and polluting their society with their deadly germs as KVOA News Tucson reports.
Officials in a Mexican border city are tightening checks on travelers coming from Texas, saying they fear U.S. visitors may be helping feed a spike in COVID-19 cases.
Municipal and state officials in Matamoros, together with Mexico’s National Guard began setting up checkpoints Saturday at the three border crossings to question U.S. citizens and residents coming from Brownsville, Texas.
City official Jorge Mora Solaldine said only one person will be allowed per vehicle and people will have to prove they have essential business, such as work or medical care.
At least 180 people were turned back at a single point on Saturday, according to city officials.
Mexico and the U.S. announced in March that they were closing the border to non-essential business, but enforcement has been spotty in some places and there were few if any checks on those coming into Matamoros. Commercial traffic, critical to the economy on both sides of the border, has continued on a large scale.
The municipality of Matamoros, with a population of roughly 500,000, has reported 323 confirmed infections of the new coronavirus and 29 deaths, while Cameron County on the other side of the border has recorded about 700 cases and 32 deaths among its roughly 420,000 people. (source)
Now I have intentionally written this in a way that sounds similar to the language used by American nationalist types describing Mexican migrants to the US, but the basic point is that Mexico is clearly concerned about the spread of this virus, and that even in a small context, the nation is attempting to take steps to prevent its spread at the border. There is a problem which they identified and are trying to deal with it in an effective way.
The border in American politics is a politicized issue. It has nothing to do with the good will of American or Mexican, but it is about using the situation to try and take power, and at the expense of both sides. Trump masterfully did this, as is evidenced by his egregious lies about what he said he would do versus what he actually has done, as a continued testament to the fraud that his presidency has become and the continued delusion of enough devoted adherents who selectively overlook these not small, but major is critical flaws and resort to Trumpian-style, twitteresque vitriol against he who would question “#MyPresident”.
Politics does not have to be this contentious. It requires for somebody who cares, but the reality is that politics is a dog-and-pony show meant to entertain and distract people while maintaining the status quo. Change does not come from Washington because it cannot since those who go to Washington are a reflection of the people who sent them, and will only change when those at the local level want to enough so that it must be reflected in politics.
More will continue to be said about the border issue, but the reality is that the issue is not the border, but rather with the people. America complains about “illegals” and ignore the political realities for why the current situation exists save for trite rhetoric by whatever party one chooses to associate with, the situation here is one of actual infected Americans possibly bringing COVID-19 to Mexico, and yet not only is not a thing said about it, but some may even feel angry at Mexico for making such checks.
The problem really is not the border- that could be solved easily. The problem is in the mirror, and that is much harder to fix.