Puebla state workers handle an urn holding the ashes of a Mexican who died from COVID-19 complications during a ceremony for 105 Mexicans who died in the U.S.
Fernando Llano / Associated Press
A Mexican public health official checks the temperature of a driver at a “sanitation filter” checkpoint for COVID-19 in Mexicali, Mexico.
Jaime Delgado
A motorist is sprayed with the disinfectant Biozinc inside a sanitizing tunnel — inflatable tubes — alongside a road in Nogales, Sonora.
Courtesy of the City of Nogales, Sonora, via Facebook
El Paso Disinfection station and Mexicans Waiting to be de-loused at the international bridge at the US Immigration Station in 1917.
U.S. Public Heath Service
People sit at a beachfront restaurant, left, as children carrying ice cream pass, Friday, May 22, 2020, in San Diego. Millions of Californians are heading into the Memorial Day weekend with both excitement and anxiety after restrictions to control the spread of coronavirus were eased across much of the state.
The president and his allies pointed to the U.S.-Mexico border as a source of COVID-19, and suggested the wall would protect us. It turns out we were a source of COVID-19 to other countries as much as the other way around, and the wall had nothing to do with it.
— Tim Steller
Before the novel coronavirus claimed its first known American victim, President Trump was already reaching to connect the disease to the U.S.-Mexico border.
“We must understand that border security is also health security,” Trump argued. “We will do everything in our power to keep the infection and those carrying the infection from entering our country.”
The United States started as the region’s hot spot for the new infection and has only extended its lead. In April, Guatemala’s health minister complained that the United States was deporting infected people to his country and referred to our country as the “Wuhan of the Americas.”
Nevertheless, Trump and some of his allies have continued trying to frame illegal crossings of the Mexican border as a top potential source of coronavirus in the United States.
This is the third column in a project by Arizona Daily Star opinion columnist Tim Steller about how government actors in the U.S. and other countries try to mold public opinion about immigration and the U.S.-Mexico border. It is funded by a fellowship from the Society of Professional Journalists Foundation. The Star will publish the columns periodically this year.
The previous installments, "Mexico does little as thousands flee violence for US border" and "Border hysteria misrepresents, hurts border towns" are posted with this article on Tucson.com.
Virus justified immigration, travel restrictions
The Trump administration has cited the coronavirus pandemic as reason to impose a series of stark immigration and travel restrictions.
On March 20, the administration suspended routine visa services at embassies and consulates around the world, canceling all appointments for immigrant and non-immigrant visas.
The same day, the administration stopped travelers from crossing the land borders from Canada or Mexico for all but essential travel, a measure recently extended till August 20. In practice, though, any American citizen or permanent resident is allowed to cross back freely.
Also on March 20, U.S. border officials stopped accepting asylum applications at land borders and began expelling immediately anyone who tries to cross between ports of entry, even if they are seeking asylum. On Friday, the government issued new guidance that said asylum hearing would only resume when border states reach positive pandemic thresholds.
On April 24, Trump imposed the first of a series of restrictions on foreign employment in the United States, arguing that the surge in unemployment necessitated protecting American workers.
That day, Trump suspended the issuance of green cards. On June 22, he extended that suspension and added others, stopping the issuance of a series of work visas.
Also on April 24, services were suspended at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services offices, but they began resuming again in June.
Beginning in March, U.S. immigration courts began suspending hearings in different ways at courts throughout the country. Hearings for detained people continued at many courts, but in-person hearings have returned only at certain courts.
On July 6, the administration said all foreign students at U.S. universities taking online classes only must return to their home countries. After a furious backlash from universities, the administration rescinded the rule July 14.
President Trump toured a section of the border wall on June 23 in San Luis, accompanied by, among others, Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, right, and U.S. Rep. Debbie Lesko, R-Ariz., in yellow.
Puebla state workers handle an urn holding the ashes of a Mexican who died from COVID-19 complications during a ceremony for 105 Mexicans who died in the U.S.
People sit at a beachfront restaurant, left, as children carrying ice cream pass, Friday, May 22, 2020, in San Diego. Millions of Californians are heading into the Memorial Day weekend with both excitement and anxiety after restrictions to control the spread of coronavirus were eased across much of the state.