I stumbled across this story from the Gary (Indiana) Post-Tribune over the weekend. It’s worth highlighting just for its outsider’s perspective, affording us a glimpse into how the rest of the country views the U.S.-Mexico border.
(Even if the author does misspell the city of Tecate’s name.)
Here, along the barren border of the United States and Mexico, there is no barbed wire, no guard towers, no cameras. A U.S. Border Patrol SUV sits idling on a bluff to the west, facing Mexico.
I’m standing out of his view, with one foot on the Mexican side of the border and my other foot on U.S. soil, literally straddling both countries. It’s the first time I have ever set foot on a foreign land. …
The ear-popping drive to the border fence from San Diego takes more than an hour through the winding California foothills, like a slow-motion rollercoaster. Huge boulders threaten to jump from the landscape, and Border Patrol vehicles are either zooming down back roads or poised at strategic viewing points facing Mexico.
Most of the property facing the fence is privately owned, except for the 60-feet or so of land along the fence.
“There is no huge wall here,” said U.S. Border Patrol Supervisor James Jacques. “It surprises everyone at first.”