In 24 hours, U.S. Customs and Border Protection revoked 94 visas belonging to parents of U.S.-born children who were crossing from Ciudad Juárez to El Paso, according to an Excélsior report from August 13. The impact extends beyond diplomacy: border families are already calculating the cost of daily school crossings for dual-nationality minors.
The visa revocations are part of the executive order against "birth tourism" that the U.S. president signed last week. On August 13, the State Department stated it defends "the integrity of U.S. citizenship," announced the creation of a task force against maternity tourism, and reported more than 600 visas revoked from foreign nationals, according to El Universal. In border communities, crossing to give birth or to study on the U.S. side is a widespread practice: three of Baja California's most recent governors were born in California while their parents lived in Mexico. The measure affects thousands of dual-nationality minors who attend schools in Texas and the parents who take them there daily on tourist visas.
The cost now has concrete figures. In Reynosa, Tamaulipas, school transportation to the Texas Valley is growing as a business: companies are opening routes and adjusting fees from $45 to $65 per student depending on the route, El Universal reported on August 14. A driver operating seven vans transports about 50 students per day and has recorded 80 enrollments for the school cycle beginning next week. Laura Cantú, a Reynosa resident, will pay $130 per week starting Monday, August 17, so that her two U.S.-born children can continue attending their school in McAllen: "I will feel safer because the visa is indispensable for us," she said. In Ciudad Juárez, midday Thursday lines at the Puente Libre and Paso del Norte crossings shortened, and immigration attorney Arturo Vázquez urged families not to cross "until a federal judge grants a temporary restraining order."
The Texas school year begins Monday, August 17, bringing with it the first measurable reading of the adjustment: how many families hire private transportation and how many stop crossing altogether. The evolution of the revocations and the State Department task force will yield the next data point to watch.
This article was written with artificial intelligence assistance based on verified sources and reviewed by a human editor before publication.