New government rules are due to take effect on January 31, complicating an already frustrating and complicated situation at the border. Currently it is easy to get into Mexico; the problem is getting back home. At the El Paso bridges, it can take 3hours to get back into the US from Juarez, and US citizens need only give an oral declaration to the Customs and Border Protection officers.
After January 31, every US citizen must show a passport to get back into the United States. Every postoffice in the area--even the tiny ones--are posting "passport hours" getting ready for the deadline. Lots of people here visit family in Mexico; buy their prescriptions in Mexico; even visit the dentist, who is likely US trained and offers services for a fraction of the cost.
The new rules even affects the raft and canoe tours of the Rio Grande. Because it is next to impossible to prevent a boat from traveling across the imaginary line at the center of the river and drift into Mexican territory, anyone taking a boat tour in our area will need a passport to get back onto Texas soil.
Visitors will no longer be able to book a river trip without a passport. How many Houstonians would think to pack their passport on a hiking trip to the mountains?
Currently there are no legal border crossings from Presidio-Ojinaga and Del Rio-Acuna, a stretch of 400 miles that includes Big Bend National Park. Before 9/11 there were informal crossing areas. Local folks are working to reopen a one lane bridge at La Linda, a former mining town in Mexico, which would help families visit each other again, and allow tourists an easier crossing to each country.
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