EL PASO, Texas - Fifteen months after the coronavirus pandemic led to the closure of the U.S.-Mexico border to all but "essential" travel, Andrea, a middle-class mother of two boys, had had enough.
Her situation at home was unsustainable: The kids needed someone to take care of them because Andrea had to return to work in an office where she's a physical therapist. Her cluttered house was in disarray. She needed her nanny, who lives in Mexico and like uncountable thousands of other people, had been unable to cross into the U.S. to work because of COVID-19 travel restrictions.
It was then, in late August, that Andrea decided to exploit a loophole in the pandemic restrictions: She paid out of her own pocket to get her nanny from Ciudad Jurez to her home across the Rio Grande in El Paso by going the long way around.
Andrea's nanny, with a tourist visa, was driven four hours to Chihuahua City, where she boarded a flight to Dallas, then switched planes for a 90-minute hop to El Paso, thus bypassing the border altogether.
All to go to work in El Paso, merely a dozen miles from her home in Jurez.
An increasing number of border residents are going to unusual lengths to navigate around restrictions during the pandemic to conduct their business. Many people who are not "essential travelers" are finding that flying to the U.S. is their best option, albeit an expensive choice: Andrea paid about $350 for a one-way ticket to get her nanny to her home.
"What does essential mean when these people take care of our elderly, our children, clean our homes, and cut our yards. We went from one month to six months, to more than a year and by the end of summer, we felt we had to really be proactive and act boldly," said Andrea, who spoke on the condition that her last name not be revealed because she employs someone without proper documentation to work.
"She is very essential to my family," she said. "Plus, she is more than just a nanny or housekeeper. She is family. That's just a fact of life on the border."
Land border crossings have been closed to most Mexicans since March 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic prompted travel restrictions along the 2,000-mile border with the U.S. Business continues unabated. And along with trade, Americans with "essential" reasons are allowed to go back and forth uninterrupted for things like school and medicine. But the COVID-19 measure largely blocks all Mexican nationals with border crossing cards from seeing family and friends, attending social gatherings, going for medical appointments or shopping.
Generations of Mexicans have crossed the border daily over the last century, holding down informal jobs as maids, or providing child and elderly care, doing construction work and gardening. Flying to the U.S. is now their best option to getting around the partially shuttered border.
"One of the beauties of being a border resident is that you manage to live in multiple cultures," said Eva Moya, an assistant professor of social work at the University of Texas at El Paso. "Therefore you learn wonderful skills, and become more resourceful with a greater capacity to adapt. You're twice as likely to become more effective in life because you have to. It's called survival."
On Monday, Yolanda Zuniga, 66, boarded a flight from Monterrey in the Mexican state of Nuevo Leon to Dallas, paying close to $400 round trip to see her sister, who is very ill. That was a trip she used to make via highway for less than $100.
"I used to see her multiple times a year," she said. "Now I can barely afford one trip. It's so expensive, but we're family, so not seeing her is not an option."
Zuniga relied on her trusted travel agent in Monclova in the Mexican state of Coahuila for help. Jose Manuel Pacheco and his partner once operated a thriving ground transportation business, MoncloTexas Tours, providing rides to the border, San Antonio, and as far away as Dallas, to people from northern Mexico like Zuniga. A trip to Dallas was particularly popular, Pacheco said, if the Dallas Cowboys were on a rare winning streak.
Then the pandemic hit and his business came to a grinding halt. Panicked, Pacheco feared bankruptcy. Then he began packaging trips by air for his customers, packages which include mandatory COVID-19 testing followed by a ride to the airport. His business is booming.
That business includes helping Americans in Texas get their nannies Mexican passports, which are required for U.S. tourist visas.
"I went from fear of losing my business to adding more personnel and vehicles to keep up with demand," he said. "The pandemic, in my case, has been good for business."
The demand for flights to the U.S. is growing. American Airlines has announced new flights between Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport and Chihuahua City beginning October 7.
Traffic on that route is slowly headed back to pre-pandemic levels. In August 2019, there were 93 flights from Chihuahua to Dallas. There were 36 last year during the height of the pandemic. This year, the number is already up past 60, according to data provided by Diio Cirium, a flight frequencies database program.
And to cope with higher demand, American Airlines will be flying aircraft with larger seating capacity on routes from DFW to some Mexican destinations close to the Texas Border, including flights to Monterrey and Chihuahua. With the new aircraft, the seating capacity to Monterrey will increase by 27%.
From walking to flying
Some residents aren't too keen on flying. Miranda, 66, has worked with a family in El Paso for five years, caring for their only child, two dogs, and cleaning the house. Miranda, who is from Chihuahua City, spoke on the condition that her name not be used for fear of losing her tourist visa, which prohibits cardholders from working.
"I used to take the bus from the central bus station in Chihuahua City and get off in downtown Juarez to cross by the (El Paso del Norte) bridge, walking. And then my boss used to pick me up," said Miranda.
Miranda did this routine every five months, crossing with her tourist visa, working and living with the American family, and then heading back home before her visa expired. She would then return again with a tourist visa.
She was in Chihuahua for her vacation break in March 2020 when the pandemic hit and the border restrictions started. She thought it would only last a few weeks.
Months passed, and her employer finally proposed airline travel. Miranda reluctantly agreed.
"I was afraid. I kept thinking about it. I had never taken a plane, my English is not very good and the idea of going all the way to Dallas scared me, plus what if immigration would not let me in?" said Miranda.
After two weeks agonizing over her decision, she agreed. Miranda's boss paid for everything.
Everything went smoothly. Miranda says she followed her boss's instructions, and the Spanish language signs in the airport helped. She said she was surprised at how well the immigration agents in the airport treated her; a far cry from the often rude agents she said she encountered at the land border crossings.
"I was like, 'Wow, they are way nicer than the ones from the bridge.' They only asked me for my COVID-19 negative test and for how long I was staying. I told them the truth, five months, and that was it," Miranda said.
These days, Chihuahua City has become such a hub for travelers that the city has also seen a boom in hotel capacity and overall tourism revenue. Some are spending upward of $600 per visit, explained Sofia Reyes, international accounts coordinator of the "Ah Chihuahua Tourism" program.
"We were very worried about the border closure because it affects us directly, but when people found out the option to travel by air, they did. The family, business and cultural ties are too strong between Juarez and El Paso, so people had to take a plane," Reyes said.
Reyes said Chihuahua City has also seen an increase in visitors from the U.S., invigorating the tourism industry.
"We see record numbers of hotel occupancy. More people are coming to Chihuahua instead of going to Juarez because of the direct flights," Reyes added.
No end in sight
It's unclear how much longer the border restrictions between the U.S. and Mexico will remain in place. The Canadian government lifted the restrictions in August, but restrictions along the U.S.-Mexico border are being extended every month, now running at least through Oct. 21.
U.S. authorities have said repeatedly that once Mexican border towns have at least 70% of their population vaccinated, the border will reopen. Last week, Mexican President Andrés Manuel Lpez Obrador said Mexico is ready to open the border, saying 90% of the border residents 18 and older are vaccinated. The figure is difficult to verify since only the federal government has access to those numbers, Al Da reported.
The U.S. has sent vaccines to border states to accelerate the process. But then the delta variant hit.
Texas business leaders worry about another holiday season without Mexicans. Most can't hop on a plane to go shopping.
"It's going to be another blue Christmas without our most loyal customers, Mexicans," said Tanny Berg, founder of the El Paso Central Business Association. "There's only so much adjustment you can do before you break."
He noted that the trend of employers flying their maids and nannies underscores disparities along the border. Not all of Mexico's working class have tourist visas, nor have wealthy employers who can afford a plane ticket.
Even Pacheco, whose business is booming, longs for the days when residents with border crossing cards were able to zigzag across the border with ease. While he's happy with his newly shaped business, he says his family and friends can't afford air travel. He has family scattered throughout Texas, including Dallas.
"In the end the separation is too much and ultimately families like mine pay the price," he said. "I should be so happy with the business growth, but I miss seeing my family in Texas."
(Dallas Morning News staff writer Kyle Arnold contributed to this report.)