SAN DIEGO (Border Report) — San Diego County Supervisor Kristin Gaspar sent a letter last week to Vice President Mike Pence asking the White House to intervene and send help to Mexico as a way to control COVID-19.
“I am writing to ask for your assistance with a growing concern south of our border,” Gaspar wrote.
She goes on to say San Diego hospitals are “becoming increasingly worried about the rapid spread of COVID-19 in northern Mexico.”
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In the letter, Gaspar asks for seven specific measures to assist Mexico including offering money to help Mexico treat patients in Mexico, assistance in helping Mexico secure Personal Protective Equipment and instituting temperature checks at the border.
But some, including Mexico’s Consul General in San Diego, saw the letter as something else. Carlos Gonzalez felt Gaspar was implying Mexican nationals are bringing the virus with them while seeking help in hospitals north of the border.
“I regret the spirit of your letter,” Gonzalez said in a tweet.
Others, like Andy Carey, executive director of US-Mexico Border Philanthropy Partnership, also saw the letter as finger-pointing.
“It is unfortunate that Supervisor Gaspar equates the spread of the pandemic in San Diego with Mexico,” wrote Carey. “Ignorance doesn’t make for good public policy.”
Gaspar urged people “to read the letter closely,” and not read anything into her request for help.
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