The Fence en la Frontera

The United States and Mexico share a border of almost 2000 miles, ranging from eastern Texas to California.  This physical border takes on many shapes and sizes depending on the area.  Much of this border is in the desert and free of any physical reinforcements.  Other areas of la frontera are dilineated by the Rio Grande, better known in Mexico as the Rio Bravo, which provides a natural border where it is wide enough intimidate potential immigration.  Of the approximately 2000 miles of US-Mexico border, roughly 350 of those miles are divided by a pedestrian fence according to the Department of Homeland Security.  This fence does not have one uniform look, but has many different faces in different areas.  Another 300 miles or so are seperated by vehicular fencing.  While congress calls for more and more money invested into beefing up the border, the fence has become stronger and more technologically advanced.  The word fence does not do justice to the new "state of the art" fence that has been errected in El Paso.  While the physical fence gives the impression of an unwelcoming neighbor, this is just one of the many tactics employed by our government to keep individuals out of our country.  Once over the fence, individuals will need to deal with sensors implanted in the ground, countless border patrol agents strategically placed, blackhawk helicopters on constant surveillance, and a terrain of perfectly raked dirt to enable tracking of individuals very similar to tactics used by experienced game hunters stalking prey.  

These are a couple pictures that I have taken of the border in the El Paso area.  This particular fence divides a more rural area of El Paso from Anapra, Mexico.  As you can see, the fence on this part of the border is still fairly primitive and has not yet been updated to the fence that is used in the Juarez area.  The more expensive fence utilized in the more urban areas of the El Paso/Juarez border is entirely built of a reddish steel, stands a few feet taller, and has much smaller mesh-like holes.  Contrast this with the fence that divides San Diego from Tijuana.

This picture was taken a few years ago when I visited the San Diego/Tijuana border.  This fence is constructed of corrugated tin and provides no way of seeing into Mexico.  This particular portion of the border is devoted to individuals who have lost their lives crossing into the United States.

As more money is being pumped into reinforcing the fence and creating it more difficult for individuals to cross into the United States, we must understand the impact that this barrier is having on the entire country of people living on the other side.  We have built this monstrosity as a country specifically to keep people out.  Our tax dollars are filtering individuals to the desert, which is an extremely treacherous journey into the United States.  Thousands of people have died trying to make it to the United States by way of desert, but as the fence grows larger and the number of border patrol agents keeps growing, people will risk their lives crossing through the desert to ensure the safety and well-being of their families.  Is the fence really curbing illegal crossings or is it generating deaths in the dry and arid southwestern deserts?

This fence creates distinct claustrophobia as it keeps individuals away from their families.  It has erased the once circular pattern of immigration.  People are not risking their lives to steal our social services, they are risking their lives in attempt to save their families.  By spending more and more on the fence while not creating appropriate legal way of entering the country, we are inherently saying that we are superior.  Is this the message that we want to send?

Perhaps we should all take advice from some of the simple messages spoken by Mr. Rogers.  Instead of working to keep people out, we should brainstorm ways to embrace our vecinos.  Instead of screaming words of hate, we can ask "Won't you be my neighbor"?