President Donald Trump announced Friday that the U.S. and Mexico have agreed to temporarily close the border to nonessential travel to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

U.S. and Mexican officials have been in talks this week over how to work together in responding to the global pandemic while ensuring that bilateral trade and essential travel are not disrupted at the border. It’s a similar move to the U.S. and Canada’s decision on Wednesday to impose travel restrictions at the northern U.S. border.

“We are working closely with Mexico and closely with Canada. Our relationship has never been better. We are working for the same goal. Our nation’s top healthcare and officials are concerned of the great public health consequences of mass uncontrolled cross border movement,” Trump said during the daily White House briefing on the crisis.

“Every week we encountered thousands of unscreened and unvetted of entries from dozens of countries and we had this problem for decades, for decades.”

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo praised Trump for enacting the restrictions, which exclude trade and will take effect Saturday.

There is only one problem Mexicans can still enter our country even if they are not having anything essential to do in our country.

As the Washington Examiner reported Customs and Border Protection officials are defying the Trump administration’s directive to block all nonessential foreign travel into the United States from Mexico, allowing noncitizens claiming to be on shopping trips to continue entering, according to two officials involved in the implementation of the order.

CBP employees in Arizona told the Washington Examiner Saturday they were instructed Friday night at the start of the executive order and again this morning not to turn around noncitizens who said they were coming in to shop, visit family, or for medical appointments. By Saturday morning, “hundreds” of vehicles that should have been blocked at the port of entry had been allowed through, two officials said.

Agents said Border Patrol managers ordered them against turning around any cars. In more than 10 hours, not a single vehicle was turned around out of hundreds that passed through and did not meet U.S. standards for admission.

“The customs agents told us their supervisors told them to continue to let them go north because they don’t want the Mexican citizens to get mad at them,” an agent said.

“Another customs guy, he said flat out, ‘There was an issue between the first-line supers and second-line,’” the agent said, referring to senior supervisors and junior supervisors. “Basically, second-line didn’t want to make the public angry. That’s pretty much your job at the port — to make people angry.”

Earlier Friday, acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf told reporters at the White House that trade and commerce would continue.

“We want to make sure that cargo continues, trade continues, heath care workers continue to be able to traverse that border. But tourism, some recreational activities and other things needs to stop during this crisis,” he said.

As we are writing this report, the port of entry officers were still sending through noncitizens entering for nonessential travel.