Trump Hasn’t Closed the Border, But People There Are Anxious and Scrambling for Backup Plans

EL PASO - For years, Luis Garcia survived the drug violence in his hometown of Ciudad Juarez without having to move away like thousands of others have done for their personal safety.He traveled back-and-forth across the Rio Grande from Juarez in Mexico to school at the University of Texas at El Paso. Sure, Juarez is crime-ridden, and that made him cautious, but he has dual citizenship and is comfortable in the sprawling city of 1.5 million people.But last week, Garcia, 26, did the unthinkable: He left his beloved Juarez and moved to El Paso where he and a friend decided to rent an apartment in hopes of finding peace of mind.Garcia couldn’t live with President Donald J. Trump’s on-again, off-again mercurial threats to shut down the border. The anxiety had become too much.“I’m just weeks away from graduation,” said Garcia, who finishes school in May. “I don’t want to jeopardize all I have worked for because of one person’s stubbornness. Too much uncertainty.”More than just avocado prices and auto parts are affected by Trump’s threats to close the southern border. On average, there are about 23,000 trips a day back-and-forth across the border between El Paso and Juarez. That’s legal crossings. And that’s just the foot traffic.Many of these people live, work and shop in both Mexico and the U.S. Many have dual citizenship. As in Garcia’s case, many feel the decades-old dependency, intimacy and trust between both cities, and both nations, is threatened.  Continue reading...