Do US or Mexican authorities impose any sanction if a US LPR comes back from Mexico to the US after traveling to Mexico for non-essential reason?
I read on https://ktla.com/news/california/san-ysidro-border-line-waits-grow-to-10-hours-in-coronavirus-crackdown/ (mirror):
The crackdown comes after U.S. Customs and Border Protection said it surveyed about 100,000 travelers coming from Mexico by car or on foot and found 63% of U.S. citizens and legal residents traveled for reasons that were not essential.
But I don't see any sanction being imposed, so I'm not sure what they mean by crackdown here, and checking for the reason of stay in Mexico after leaving Mexico seems a bit late for pandemic purpose.
Do the US or Mexican authorities impose any sanction if a US lawful permanent resident (LPR) (and who is a French citizen) comes back from Mexico to the US via land border after having traveled from the US to Mexico via land border for non-essential reasons?
Best Answer
I am not sure what exactly that article means by "crackdown" either. It is clearly talking about US authorities and not Mexican authorities. Some other news articles (such as this LA Times article) have said that non-essential travelers are sent to secondary inspection, so perhaps the "sanction" is the inconvenience of going to secondary:
Nonessential travelers, such as those going to visit family or the beach or to shop, are now being referred to secondary inspection areas for additional questions, Customs officials said. Border officers will also “provide such travelers with educational material in the form of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Travelers Health Advisory Notice to ensure effective understanding of travel restrictions.”
It's kind of weird that they are talking about US citizens or LPRs returning to the US after non-essential travel, since the regulation on entry restrictions on the US-Mexico land border specifically defines US citizens or LPRs returning to the US as essential travel:
“essential travel,” which includes, but is not limited to—
- U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents returning to the United States;
which your article also alludes to, by saying that US citizens and LPRs cannot be denied entry under the ban. But if it's not the ban, then I don't know what other US law or regulation a US citizen or LPR going to Mexico for tourism and then returning to the US would be running afoul of. By talking about a "crackdown", the articles seem to imply that CBP views such travel to be somehow "wrong", but I can't find anything official that says it is wrong (with respect to US law).
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