CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico – It's another busy morning at the Paso del Norte International bridge, one of the ports of entry that connect sister cities El Paso and Ciudad Juarez.
Both vehicle and pedestrian lines are growing as Mexicans with border crossing cards head to the U.S. side to shop, see family and friends, and attend school. Others visit to attend sporting events and concerts.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers ask visitors routine questions about legal status.
But over the summer, a mother from Ciudad Juarez on the way to COSTCO with her young son, said she got a new question from a CBP officer.
"Why was your son born in the United States of America?" Esperanza said. NPR is not using her full name because she fears further harassment for speaking to the media. The mother said she was taken into a room for more questioning while her five-year-old son waited outside.
"I started to feel fear because I did not know why I was there. They asked for my prints. They asked for my picture," she said. Then a female CBP officer searched her. "At that point I'm with my hands on the wall with my feet apart [and] thinking: What is happening?" she said.
Esperanza is among thousands of Mexicans with border crossing cards that allow them to visit U.S. cities all along the border from Brownsville to San Diego.
The border crossing cards are for short-term visits only and are non-immigrant visas.
In a statement to NPR the State Department said it has revoked thousands of visas including those of border parents. But the agency did not give a specific overall number, or say how many were on the border, or whether there's now a policy to question Mexican visitors about why their children were born in the United States.
Thousands of border families are caught up in the visa crackdown ordered in August by the Trump administration that included creating a new task force aimed at stopping foreigners from trying to gain citizenship for their U.S. born children. El Paso-based Immigration attorney Kathleen Walker said those with tourist visas should understand the rule.
"If I'm going to visit for pleasure in the United States, it does not include travel for the, remember this, primary purpose of obtaining U.S. citizenship for a child by giving birth in the U.S."
Mexicans living in border cities cross into the U.S. on a regular basis for many reasons and it's common for people to have children being born on both sides of the border who have dual citizenship.
Canadians do not need border crossing cards or other tourist visas for short-term trips to the United States. But Mexicans face scrutiny both when they apply for the visa and whenever they visit.
"You're also being assessed whether or not you're telling the truth when you come to the United States using a visa to enter the United States by Customs and Border Protection officers," Walker said.
Policy disrupts border life
After Esperanza was questioned extensively at the bridge, she learned in her mom chat group these enhanced inspections are happening to other parents. "These experiences scar our hearts that are united by a bridge," she said of friends and family living on either side of the border.
The new enforcement effort is disrupting daily life as some parents with visitor visas avoid crossing altogether.
Another Juarez mother who asked us to only use her first name, Maria, for fear of losing her visa, no longer visits El Paso and pulled her son out of the private elementary school he attended there for years.
"All of my son's after school activities were also in El Paso, including soccer practice," she said.
Maria said he was sad and missed his friends terribly.
On a recent weekend some of his El Paso classmates and their mothers crossed the bridge to celebrate his 11th birthday on the Mexican side. They sang both Happy Birthday and the traditional Mexican birthday song, Las Mañanitas.
The party was a reminder of the close cross border ties that are frayed but so far not broken by the visa crackdown.
But routines have changed especially for U.S. born children. Many are enrolled in classes from elementary school to college in El Paso and there's a dedicated student pedestrian line at the downtown bridge that operates early weekday mornings.
On a recent Monday, younger students, many in school uniforms, carried backpacks with colorful characters including Disney's Frozen, Super Mario Brothers and longtime favorites Spiderman and Snoopy.
Some elementary students who attend parochial schools clutched their older siblings' hands as they walked across the bridge to El Paso. Their mothers used to take them to school but are reluctant to cross and risk having their visas revoked.
Nancy, who lives on the U.S. side of the border, was walking her son to his elementary school when she spoke to NPR. She did not want NPR to use her full name because she's a legal U.S. resident and is concerned that speaking to the media could affect her application for citizenship.
Nancy said she's noticed more grandmothers taking kids to class, but they also face a new question, she said.
"The CBP officer asks why the mother didn't come. 'Is she afraid we'll take away her visa?'"
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