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The U.S. government is expected to extend travel restrictions at the Mexican border for an additional 30 days, according to the Embassy of Mexico in the United States.

In a post on the embassy's Twitter account, Mexico's foreign affairs agency said Mexico "proposed to the U.S." an extension of the restrictions, which limits non-essential travel across the U.S.-Mexico border.

The restrictions are likely to be extended until Aug. 21, according to the embassy.

It's been four months since the Department of Homeland Security restricted non-essential travel at the country's northern and southern borders. The initial order took effect March 21 and has been repeatedly extended for 30 days at a time, as the global coronavirus pandemic continues to worsen in both Mexico and the U.S.

For its part, DHS has been announcing its extensions a day or two in advance of the expiration of restrictions.

On Tuesday, a CBP spokesperson told the El Paso Times in an email that "restrictions on non-essential travel at U.S. land borders will remain in effect until July 21, 2020, unless amended or rescinded."

Traffic at El Paso's international bridges has dropped off sharply since the restrictions took effect, falling to an average of about 300,000 passenger vehicle crossings in April versus more than 1.2 million the same month in 2018.

The border restrictions prohibit cross-border visits for tourism and recreation and allow "essential" crossings for those who work in one country or the other, or for medical or emergency management purposes. 

The government of Mexico hasn't broadly restricted transit at its land border.

Lauren Villagran can be reached at lvillagran@elpasotimes.com.

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