Special to El Rrun-Rrun
If you go to downtown Brownsvill this morning (Tuesday), you will probably not see the long lines of Matamoros residents lined along the walls of the local plasma donation centers.
That follows a directive by the Customs and Border Patrol confirmed by spokesman Phillip Barrera late Monday night that they will no longer be allowed to use their B1 and B2 visas to sell blood.
Under the rules of the U.S, Dept. of State, B1 visas can be used only to consult with business associates, attend a scientific, educational, professional, or business convention or conference, settle an estate, or negotiate a contract.
A B2 visa can only be used for tourism, vacation (holiday), to visit with friends or relatives, receive medical treatment, to participate in social events hosted by fraternal, social, or service organizations, participation by amateurs in musical, sports, or similar events or contests, if not being paid for participating, and enrollment in a short recreational course of study, not for credit toward a degree (for example, a two-day cooking class while on vacation).
Barrera confirmed that as of Monday, the CBP will enforce the rule that the State Dept. will not allow the B1 or B2 visas to be used by Mexican citizens to cross to sell their blood to the plasma companies along the border.
Visitors to downtown could often see donors lined up for more than a block waiting to enter the buildings, one of them within sight of the Gateway International Bridge in downtown Brownsville. And donors wearing the tell-tale bandages around their arm indicated that they had just emerged from one of the centers.
Some donors said that CBP officers had allowed the Mexican crossers to go to the plasma firms to sell their blood. Many said that they were restricted to donate, cash their debit cards at an ATM, and then return to Mexico with the money. In fact, there was scant traffic generated by stores downtown except for that generated by the centers.
The money the donors made – varying from between $50 to $75 a week depending on how many times a week they are allowed to donate – was more than they could make working in the maquilas in Matamoros.
Others reported that the CBP required them to install a cell phone application which allowed officers to monitor their locations.
The CPB had stopped the crossers in the past, but resumed a few months later. News reports indicate that Paul del Rincon, the director of the CBP at Eagle Pass, made the announcement today. Barrera confirmed late Monday that the directive had come from CPB headquarters in Washington, D.C.
11 comments:
Why don't Brownsville citizens line up for this?
Seems the Matamoros crowd is doing us a favor, and we shit on them? Oh, wait, our citizens would want higher pay, not the peanuts paid to the Mexicans!
Ama, nos chingamos nosotros solos otra vez.
The USA needs this plasma: no drugs, no alcohol, no illness plus given by people that wake up early: 4:00 AM and they are in line.
"Gringos without blood are gringos without life" stop at Gringo's restaurant somewhere in Texas...
Abbott says he’ll ask for donations to build border wall
Your typical racist republican at work
There are a lot of cocos here in the RGV, maybe he'll get a couple of bucks pinche gueyes
Too much garlic in Mexican plasma these days.
Nurtih Galonsky owns the Plasma Building. See how soon they will sell it to the City of Brownsville once the tenant doesn't see it fit to renew their rent commitment, since there won't be anymore blood to donate and sell to the hospitals around the country.
State becomes first to reach 80% vaccination rate
Vermont only 10k people live there - no wonder
Cut the food stamps and all your fat discustng family be on line 2:23pm too much "cebo" in the plasma
2::23 the electric carts at the HEB are for persons with disabilities and elderly not for your fat slimy mother asshole
June 15, 2021 at 2:23 PM
Check out the under passes FULL OF HILLBILLIES PINCHE GUEY and the smell is permanent.
Where is the source link for this announcement and confirmation?
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