Where the border passes through urban areas, which offer easy access to
roads and streets on the other side a 20 foot high steel wall has been
erected in the last 10 or so years. In some areas it's a double wall with a
no-man's-land in between. It divides the city of San Diego-Tijuana in half.
This is the area where most illegal crossings used to take place. Now large
numbers cross the high mountains and deserts in the eastern part of the
county in hopes of evading the Immigration and Naturalization Service cops.
Everyone who wants to make it across does so eventually (it may take a few
tries--if caught "illegals" are sent back to the other side to try again)
except for those who die trying. There have been a few documented cases of
violence by the INS, but the most common killer is the environment, which
can be deadly at any season, but particularly in Winter and Summer. Those
crossing are usually from the south of Mexico and have no concept of alpine
cold or desert aridity or Summer temperatures in the 120s fahrenheit--they
often make the attempt, which can involve 10-20 miles of hiking through
very wild country, hatless, with no warm clothing, shod in sandals, and
without water. There is also for much of the year a substantial danger of
brush fires covering tens of square miles, and some illegals have been
caught in these.
The western end of the wall is 50 feet out into deep water and dangerous
currents, and a few people have drowned attempting this route. On one side
is Playas de Tijuana, on the other Imperial Beach. Make of the symbolism
what you wish. The Imperial Beach side of the border is a state park that
before the wall was called Friendship Fields. The name has been changed to
Border Fields.
Mark
At 08:39 AM 12/29/2000 +1100, you wrote:
>Mark
>
>Thanks for the poem: it should be read at official functions. Can you
>tell me more about this wall? Does the wall kill, or the people who
>guard it?
>
>Best
>
>Alison
>
>> In my pocket of the world Cuban
>>poetry has been effectively embargoed and there is a border of silence
>>largely separating all of Latin America from the English and
>>French-speaking north, most acutely on the border between Alta and Baja
>>California, now demarcated by a steel wall that this year has killed just
>>short of 400 Mexicans in my county alone.
>
>
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