US-Mexico border wall. (AP photo)
SAN DIEGO: Mexico and the US announced Friday that travel would be sharply restricted along their shared border as part of efforts to control the spread of the coronavirus.
Mexico, the US and Canada also agreed that everyone who tries to illegally cross a border would be immediately returned to their native country, with officials citing the potential health risk of detaining people from all over the world.
President Donald Trump and Mexican Foreign Secretary Marcelo Ebrard said the two governments agreed to prohibit recreational and tourist travel, similar to the restrictions put in place earlier this week along the US and Canadian border.
Trump said the actions with the country’s North American partners “will save countless lives.”
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the new border restrictions would take effect at midnight Friday and remain in place as long as needed.
There would be no ban on people traveling between the US and Mexico for work or other essential activities and there would be no halt to commercial traffic, Ebrard said.
“Everyone else is not expected to have any difficulties,” he said. “We’re not talking about closing it.”
By excluding commercial traffic from