Border Fence will Split Friendship Park

While the border fence is hardly going to solve irregular migration into the U.S, and is already over the budget in terms of expenses, this latest development proves it to be inhumane. The New York Times reports:

At a time of tumult over immigration with illegal workers routed from businesses, record levels of deportations, border walls getting taller and longer, Friendship Park here has stood out as a spot where international neighbors can chat easily over the fence.Families and friends, some of them unable to cross the border because of legal or immigration trouble, exchange kisses, tamales and news through small gaps in the tattered chain-link fence.

But in a sign of changing times, new border fencing that the DHS is counting on to help curtail illegal crossings and attacks on border patrol agents will slice through the park, limiting access to the monument and fence-side socializing. In addition to the fence, a second, steel mesh barrier will line the border for several yards on the United States side, creating a no-man’s land intended to slow or stop crossings.

“It’s harmful to the kind of family culture we have at the border,” said Representative Bob Filner D-CA, who has urged the department not to build in the park. “We have a friendly country at the border. We have family ties across the border. It is one place, certainly in San Diego, where we talk about friendship at the border.”