Norma Carbajal González, head of documentation at the Mexican Consulate of Las Vegas, has spent the better part of her quarter-century tenure as a Mexican diplomat living north of the border. Until now, she says, no one in her family has ever expressed any concerns about visiting her in the United States. 

“My mom recently asked me, ‘Hey, what would happen if I’m walking and the police or some other agent approaches me and asks for my documents?’ I could see that she was concerned, as that question had never come up before,” Carbajal González says. “If she—who has all her documents and has been traveling maybe two or three times per year to visit me—asks me that, I couldn’t see how a tourist coming just for a couple of days would feel comfortable.” 

Amid an ongoing Vegas tourism slowdown, plus a concurrent increase in federal immigration enforcement and political factors like tariffs, Carbajal González and head consul Patricia Cortés Guadarrama tell the Weekly they’ve noticed fewer Mexican citizens coming to them for passport or visa services in recent months. 

Reduced tourism from Mexico could give a big economic hit to Vegas, where the second-highest source of international visitation has historically been Mexico. In 2024, more than one in five international visitors were from Mexico. And while Mexican Independence Day has traditionally been a time when Hispanic visitors flood the Strip for a slew of music, sports and entertainment events, Carbajal González and Cortés Guadarrama suspect that the current political atmosphere will put a damper on those festivities—and Vegas’ bottom line. 

Videos of masked agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) conducting raids nationally and indiscriminately picking up people—including citizens and immigrants who have legal status—have surely chilled would-be visitors from Mexico and several countries. Hundreds have been detained in Southern Nevada facilities since the start of President Donald Trump’s crackdown on immigration.

Specific policies surrounding visas also make it harder for some to get here. Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority CEO and President Steve Hill said as much in an August 29 press conference where he criticized a new, refundable $250 “visa integrity fee” established under the Republican-led “Big Beautiful Bill” that passed in July. 

“If you’ve got a family of four and you want to get a visa to come the United States, and it costs you about $1,150, that’s reason enough for a lot of families not to come. On top of that, it takes a long time to clear the visa process in those non-waiver countries. Mexico is one of those,” Hill said. “I think that policy really ought to be rethought, because I think it is going to be harmful to Vegas.”

Whether these policies impact turnout at Mexican Independence Day festivities—taking place throughout Las Vegas from now until the holiday officially arrives on September 16—is uncertain. 

“Unfortunately, I think the city will be hit by all of that,” Cortés Guadarrama says of those uncertainties. “It will be felt for sure, because we can already measure some of it through the number of people who come in. The fact that we’ve seen a decrease, we think, is because people watch the news and are being way more cautious, more so than in previous years.” 

Though Cortés Guadarrama has also spent 25 years in the field, she’s still relatively new to the Valley. After leaving Salt Lake City to take up the mantle at the Mexican Consulate of Las Vegas last year, she’s already come to regard Vegas’ Mexican Independence Day festivities as “one of the best experiences in my career” and an opportunity for Latinos to celebrate cultural pride.

“It’s a big month for us. Traditionally, many, many, many Mexicans come and celebrate Independence Day here, which was interesting to me being new here,” she says.

It remains to be seen if 2025 can match last year’s energy. While local leaders like Las Vegas Mayor Shelley Berkley and Hill have both acknowledged the tourism lull, they’ve generally placed a larger emphasis on a greater Canadian tourism exodus. According to July passenger data from Harry Reid International Airport, airlines like Air Canada and WestJet have suffered respective year-over-year passenger count decreases of 24.5% and 33.6%.

The same data set shows that two Vegas-bound Mexican airlines have also weathered some year-over-year decreases, with Aeroméxico and Volaris down 9.1% and 3.4%, respectively, in July. Berkley has noted that “a number” of Mexican high rollers “aren’t so keen on coming here right now.” 

Carbajal González says she believes Mexican visitors and artists alike could be worrying about “how welcome and safe they’re going to be here.” 

“We have seen in the news people who come in on a visa, for example, who were taken to jail over a minor traffic violation,” she says, noting that she also fielded fewer passport inquiries over Labor Day Weekend than in years past. “Others may see this and decide not to come. Why? Many are afraid to.”

Hill remains optimistic about this weekend. He cited the boxing match between Mexican fighter Saul “Canelo” Álvarez and Terence Crawford at Allegiant Stadium on September 13 as a major draw, but tickets still haven’t sold out as initially expected when they went on sale July 18. Hundreds of tickets were still available as of press time.

Valley-based events, including Clark County’s Hidalgo Cultural Event on September 13 and the inaugural Summerlin Latin Heritage Parade on September 16, are still expected to draw crowds and drive economic activity, organizers say. Downtown Summerlin senior vice president of marketing Danielle Bisterfeldt tells the Weekly she expects more than 2,000 at the parade. 

For Cortés Guadarrama, the camaraderie of Mexican Independence Day gatherings in the Valley is something to behold. 

“Anything I can tell you will not be comparable to what you’d feel if you’re there, because the sensations and feelings stay with you forever,” she says. “It’s a moment to remind ourselves of who we are, what makes us who we are. It’s amazing, it’s beautiful, and it makes me cry every time.” 

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