San Diego-During a visit to the border vaccine site on Thursday, San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria joined other regional leaders in calling for action to ask the Biden government to fully reopen the border.

People can currently travel to and from Mexico by plane and car; however, pedestrian traffic is still limited to necessary travel and specific entry points.

This is hurting American companies. Approximately 95% of San Ysidro Boulevard’s customers are from Mexico. It is estimated that during the entire pandemic, the regional economy lost US$645 million; 198 companies closed permanently and 1,900 people were unemployed.

The sidewalk known as “PedWest” is now a vaccination super station, where Mexican citizens can get vaccinated and return to Mexico immediately.

Border leaders said they hope that helping to increase the vaccination rate of Mexican citizens will help them in their efforts to reopen pedestrian traffic, but they said they are still waiting when it will be enough.

Gloria said at a PedWest press conference on Thursday: “Maquiladoras vaccinates their employees with thousands of vaccines every day. I have witnessed more than 200 people being vaccinated just a few steps away from here. “

Imperial Beach Mayor Serge Dedina and National City Mayor Alejandra Sotelo-Solis joined the supervisor Nora Vargas.

“Each of us did our part, whether it was texting, calling, tweeting or sending letters,” Sotelo-Solis said.

Dedina added: “We believe in an open border. We believe in letting two countries work together, and our communities work together and prosper together.”

While reporting on this event, the FOX 5 staff encountered two American surfers who tried to cross the border to surf in Mexico, but were told to turn around.

“I have been walking through here, we came here today and went in, the Border Patrol stopped us,” Mike McKenna explained.

His friend Scott Schwartz said the officials did not explain why: “We are like what we do? She said,’You have to go there.'”

These two people and anyone else trying to cross had to walk about a mile and then enter from a different entrance instead of the previously popular PedWest sidewalk.