The United States will allow all fully vaccinated travelers to enter the country (CNN) via land borders with Canada and Mexico beginning early next month, U.S. officials said. Such crossings had been limited to essential travelers since March 2020.
Leaders of border communities, which depend on such travel for tourism and family visits, celebrated the announcement (El Paso Matters). The United States will also require (NYT) essential travelers across land borders to be fully vaccinated beginning in January. Officials said the precise date that land and air travel will be permitted for fully vaccinated travelers will be announced (Reuters) “very soon.” A rule known as Title 42 that blocks many people from seeking asylum at the southern U.S. border will stay in place.
Analysis
“Against all common sense, fully vaccinated travelers from many countries with much lower case rates than the United States [have remained] blocked,” CFR’s Edward Alden writes for Foreign Policy.
“This is one of the [Joe Biden administration’s] biggest—and most demanded—cross border policies and will set the tone for North American engagement on this. But the justification for keeping Title 42 shows how new policy development allows the [administration] to double down on this position as time goes on,” migration analyst Cris Ramon tweets.
