Mexico and the United States shut their border, sort of
A carefully calibrated closure
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TIJUANA AND San Diego are rumbustious siblings. The San Ysidro border crossing, which links them, is the world’s busiest. Some 5m people a month make the northward journey between the cities. But covid-19 has brought about an abrupt change in their relationship. On March 19th California’s government ordered the state’s 42m residents to stay home to slow the spread of the new coronavirus. The next day Donald Trump, the American president, announced that the United States-Mexico border would be closed to all but “essential” traffic.
This article appeared in the The Americas section of the print edition under the headline "Distancing neighbours"
From the March 28th 2020 edition
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