Montesinos took a bus for several hours from her town in the state of Veracruz to an airport to then fly several more hours to Tijuana. The Aguilars had traveled from Orange County, roughly a two-hour car ride followed by the 40-minute or 1½-mile hike into Border Field State Park, for their visit. The Aguilars stood a matter of yards from the agent, as close to the secondary fence as the public is allowed, to see the grandmother, Isabel Montesinos. side, a Border Patrol agent sat in an SUV looking out over a beach that was empty except for an abandoned sailboat. One young person whipped a skimboard through the incoming waves. People sat on the beach and played in the surf. On the Tijuana side on Wednesday, a tuba player wandered along the border fence. It is not clear what will happen to the art if the structure is torn down to make way for its replacement. The Mexican side is painted with extensive murals, including recently added portraits of “dreamers” or undocumented immigrants who came to the United States as children. The energy and life on the Mexican side of Friendship Park - even the fence itself - have long stood in stark contrast with the quiet beach and Border Patrol agents on the U.S. It has also been, at times, a place of protest. The park has long been a place of hope - advocates for greater cross-border community have hosted binational yoga, Sunday Mass and Christmas posadas. It’s positioned very close to Friendship Park’s pedestrian gate. More recently, Border Patrol installed a camera and radar system that includes a sign warning that because of the potential for exposure, the device shouldn’t be within about 25 feet of people. Access to the park between the two fences became controlled by Border Patrol. In the late 2000s, the United States added a “secondary fence” or second layer of silver steel mesh fencing with razor wire on top from the edge of the beach heading east. The holes are just big enough for fingertips. In the area around Friendship Park, the fence includes a metal mesh so that people can’t pass items through it. The steel posts run all the way into the ocean. government built the “primary fence” or first layer of border barrier at the site. (Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum)īut in the early ‘90s, the U.S. An announcement from DHS at the end of May said that the department expects work to begin quickly.Īdvocates spotted contractors at the site on Wednesday. The construction is among seven projects that the Department of Homeland Security has decided to resume after an executive order in the early days of President Joe Biden’s term paused border wall construction. “Upon completion of the San Diego Friendship Circle Project, CBP will identify opportunities to provide the public with access once it is operationally safe to do so.” “CBP recognizes the value of having a safe meeting place for families and friends on both sides of the border,” said a Customs and Border Protection spokesperson who declined to be named. She did not directly address follow up questions emailed by the Union-Tribune, including about agents’ statements to the Friends of Friendship Park, a community coalition that advocates for access to the park. “In the near future we should have more information regarding placement of gates,” Michael said.
(Hayne Palmour IV/The San Diego Union-Tribune) The construction plans, according to members of Friends of Friendship Park who attended a recent meeting with Border Patrol officials, will replace both of the current layers of border barrier with 30-foot bollards, or posts set close together to prevent anyone from slipping through between them - the same style that the Trump administration erected in many places along the California border.Īccording to the advocates, Border Patrol officials told them that current construction plans do not include pedestrian gates to allow people into the park. That would make the current way of visiting family near the park a phone call while waving through two sets of metal fencing - the new normal. Now, with an announcement from the Biden administration that border wall construction will resume in the area, many are concerned that closure will become permanent. The women had seen images online of how family members separated by the border used to be able to visit each other at this park and at least press their fingers through the mesh wall to touch their loved ones.īut Friendship Park has been closed since the pandemic began.
Accessed by a pedestrian gate in the fence further inside the U.S., Friendship Park is a decades-old binational park that was supposed to be a symbol of the community that stretches across the border. They looked longingly at the space between the two layers of border barrier.
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