Mexican protesters have shut a US southern border crossing amid fears that untested American travellers will spread coronavirus.
Residents in Sonora, south of the US state of Arizona, have promised to block traffic into Mexico for a second day after closing a checkpoint for hours on Wednesday.
They wore face masks and held signs telling Americans to “stay at home”.
Mexico has fewer than 500 confirmed Covid-19 cases and the US over 65,000.
The border is supposed to be closed to all except “essential” business, but protesters said there has been little enforcement and no testing by authorities.
The blockade was led by members of the group Sonorans for Health and Life, who called for medical testing to be done on anyone who crosses from the US into Mexico.
Top Female Tennis Player Takes on No. 671 Man in ‘Battle of the Sexes’ – It Wasn’t Even Close
‘America first’: Wyoming Secretary of State Chuck Gray launches House bid
Trump Signals Military Hit First Target Inside Venezuela After Finding Drug Facility: ‘We Knocked That Out’
China surrounds Taiwan with warships, fighter jets in largest military drills on record
Missing 19-year-old Camila Mendoza Olmos believed to be ‘in imminent danger,’ Texas sheriff says
Manhunts across America in 2025: Five cases that left cities, campuses and towns on edge
5 pivotal 2026 Senate races will determine whether Republicans maintain governing trifecta under Trump
FBI Foils New Year’s Eve Terror Plot by ‘Pro-Palestinian’ Group in California: Officials
Trump stress-tests Thune’s Senate majority with record-breaking year
Health insurers drift leftward in campaign donations even as they seek to sway GOP
GOP Rep to Force Vote on Expelling Ilhan Omar from Congress
DC pipe bomb suspect says someone needed to ‘speak up’ about stolen election claims
Marjorie Taylor Greene criticizes Trump’s meetings with Zelenskyy, Netanyahu: ‘Can we just do America’
Tim Walz pushes back on Minnesota fraud allegations following viral daycare video
Ilhan Omar’s Somaliland stance slammed as Minnesota fraud scandal deepens
Jose Luis Hernandez, a group member, told the Arizona Republic: “There are no health screenings by the federal government to deal with this pandemic. That’s why we’re here in Nogales. We’ve taken this action to call on the Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to act now.”
The Mexican president has been criticised for his response to the pandemic, as has US President Donald Trump.
Mr Hernandez said the Wednesday demonstrations were a “first warning” to Mr Lopez Obrador, popularly known by his initials, Amlo.
The group has called for enforcement of the crossing ban on all US or Mexican citizens for tourism or medical reasons, including those who cross the border every day to attend school or work in the US.
Authorities must also conduct medical testing on Mexicans deported from the US, they said.
Top Female Tennis Player Takes on No. 671 Man in ‘Battle of the Sexes’ – It Wasn’t Even Close
‘America first’: Wyoming Secretary of State Chuck Gray launches House bid
Trump Signals Military Hit First Target Inside Venezuela After Finding Drug Facility: ‘We Knocked That Out’
China surrounds Taiwan with warships, fighter jets in largest military drills on record
Missing 19-year-old Camila Mendoza Olmos believed to be ‘in imminent danger,’ Texas sheriff says
Manhunts across America in 2025: Five cases that left cities, campuses and towns on edge
5 pivotal 2026 Senate races will determine whether Republicans maintain governing trifecta under Trump
FBI Foils New Year’s Eve Terror Plot by ‘Pro-Palestinian’ Group in California: Officials
Trump stress-tests Thune’s Senate majority with record-breaking year
Health insurers drift leftward in campaign donations even as they seek to sway GOP
GOP Rep to Force Vote on Expelling Ilhan Omar from Congress
DC pipe bomb suspect says someone needed to ‘speak up’ about stolen election claims
Marjorie Taylor Greene criticizes Trump’s meetings with Zelenskyy, Netanyahu: ‘Can we just do America’
Tim Walz pushes back on Minnesota fraud allegations following viral daycare video
Ilhan Omar’s Somaliland stance slammed as Minnesota fraud scandal deepens
The group have vowed to block the DeConcini checkpoint again after shutting it down on Wednesday afternoon.
President Trump has made cutting the number of people crossing the border from Mexico into the US a centrepiece of his administration. He blames border-crossers from the south for bringing economic and social problems into the US.
He announced last week that the frontier was to close due to coronavirus.
Story cited here.
