In 2006, Senator Barack Obama voted for the Secure Fence Act, which mandated build a bigger wall with more police along the U.S.-Mexico border. It authorized nearly $3 billion for 670 miles of fencing stretching from California to Texas. Despite the efforts of environmentalists and other activists, more than 600 miles of walls, fences, and vehicle barriers have been built. The full 670 miles is expected to be finished by the end of 2009.
People stand for hours on this pedestrian walkway waiting to cross the border to return home from work in El Paso. Before the most recent spate of murders in Juarez, U.S. citizens would go there to receive affordable dental work.
This young boy lives with his extended family in the buildings behind him. Usually it is young men who come to the wall, possibly to smuggle something into Mexico, and the family who lives here does not approach them.
At a six-foot break in the wall near El Paso, a few people are visible on the other side of the Rio Grande. In other parts of Texas, levees have been built and herbicide sprayed to enable better visibility and monitoring of the border. The REAL ID Act (a rider on a defense supplemental) grants the secretary of Homeland Security the authority to waive any law that interferes with construction of the border wall. Homeland Security has waived legislation such as the National Historic Preservation Act.
Anyone approaching the wall will attract a Border Patrol truck within seconds. We were asked, “Where is your press pass? What are the pictures for? A book? A magazine? A newspaper? Television? Who are you? Why are you here?”
On the other side of the wall is Anapra, Mexico, a suburb of Juarez. On the U.S. side is Sunland Park, New Mexico, which also used to be called Anapra.
Sarah Wellington is an artist from New Jersey who is active with the antiwar group Activist Response Team (ART), which participates in the March of the Dead protests.
