Early closure notice results in rush of holiday weekend visitors
On Wednesday, July 1, in order to try to stem the rapid growth of coronavirus cases in her state, Sonora Governor Claudia Pavlovich announced that the border between Arizona and Sonora would be closed to non-essential (leisure) travel at three major border crossings, starting on the 4th of July weekend.
The operation, conducted in coordination with Mexico’s National Institute of Migration (INM), would place officials south of border crossings in Agua Prieta, Nogales and San Luis Rio Colorado. The Lukeville-Sonoyta border crossing would remain open to allow tourists to visit the coastal city of Puerto Peñasco, also known as Rocky Point.
Essential activities
The closure defined “essential” travel in the same way as U.S. border closures have, with the exception of being able to cross the border for education-related activities, which is not allowed.
Essential activities for travelers who want to visit Sonora include crossing the border for medical and dental services, to purchase medication and for legitimate business purposes.
Crossing the border for leisure activities is not permitted.
Rush to the border
As soon as the closure was announced, Arizonans packed their weekend bags and rushed the border to get into Sonora before the ban began.
But at the Lukeville border crossing, citizens and local police in Sonoyta essentially blocked southbound traffic on Friday. They stopped foreign vehicles and turned them around, not allowing traffic to proceed to Rocky Point. The blockade was disbanded before the weekend stream of traffic to Puerto Peñasco.
Lax enforcement?
On Friday, El Imparcial reporter Rubén A. Ruiz watched a checkpoint between Adolfo López Mateos Avenue and Campillo Street in Nogales. Operated by state police assisted by the Nogales Civil Protection Unit (UPC), in a two-hour period on Friday morning they turned back 12 vehicles from the U.S.
But starting at noon, they began to allow all vehicles to pass and continued to do so for the time that reporters watched the checkpoint.
Current border closures
Currently, the border crossings at Douglas-Agua Prieta, Nogales and San Luis Colorado are closed to southbound non-essential traffic.
The Lukeville-Sonoyta border crossing should be open. However, due to conflicts between the municipalities of Sonoyta and Puerto Peñasco, there may be intermittent closures that prevent southbound traffic from the U.S.
