Sonora Will Request Temporary Border Closure for Non-Essential Southbound Travelers (From US into Mexico)

junio 30, 2020 The Border Reports

HERMOSILLO, SONORA, MX – Sonora Health Authorities will request the closure for non-essential crossings though the border crossing ports between Arizona and Sonora.

According to a statement from the secretary of Health, the request is in response to the rising trend of Covid-19 cases in the neighboring state of Arizona and aimed to contain the growth of the pandemic in Sonora.

Enrique Clausen Iberri, Secretary of Health in Sonora, announced that he will work with the State Health Council to submit a formal request to the General Health Council and the Ministry of Foreign Relations in Mexico to release an executive order for the temporary closure of the border with the United States for non-essential visits.

He explained that Sonora is making an enormous effort to contain the accelerated growth of infections that it has been facing in the last month, and the proximity to the neighboring country represents an additional risk. Arizona has registered an exponential increase in cases after its gradual economic reopening, therefore it is necessary to take action to stop the spread into the country.

He reiterated the importance of putting in place the measures that are necessary to protect the health of the Sonorans and one of them at the moment should be to reduce the US border crossing to Mexico for visitors who with non-essential needs.

Border crossing should only be allowed for commercial and work reasons, very similar to the restrictions that the US government has established for crossings that go from Mexico to the United States.

The petition, he pointed, will be for the State Health Council to issue a formal request addressed to the General Health Council, which is the highest authority empowered to make health-related decisions in the country.

And to the Secretary of Foreign Relations, to evaluate the relevance of applying a temporary restriction to non-essential visitors, in the demarcation that corresponds to the border line between Sonora and Arizona.

“This petition is based on the preservation of the health of the Sonoran population and on the certainty that it will not affect the commercial and labor relations that we continue to maintain with our neighbors in Arizona and in general with the United States and that have been in place during the health contingency,” he stressed.