It's hard to believe that a 2010 Rasmussen poll revealed that 68% of Americans favored building the wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. I wonder how many Americans have seen it and understand the catastrophic effects it has had on human lives, sovereign Native American nations, wildlife, and the environment. The rust-colored fence appears along highway 281 in the Rio Grande Valley, where it runs through wildlife sanctuaries. Fragmenting these habitats creates significant obstacles for wildlife that include hunting, foraging, mating, and getting access to what may be their only source of water--the Rio Grande River. One also sees how the fence divides people's private properties. Indeed, the federal government has made homeowners, farmers, municipalities, and private nature preserves give up their land to build this patchwork of fences and walls. So much death and destruction, and totally ineffective. An estimated 97% of people who attempt to cross the border make it. www.no-border-wall.com
Between January and October 2012, nearly 150 people were found dead in the Rio Grande Valley, a 200% increase over the previous year. And yet migration across the U.S.-Mexico border has dropped to a historic low of 62% over the last five years. Fewer people are crossing but more are dying.
 |
| Mi abuelita and my mother looking through the fence at Matamoros, where our family has deep roots. |
 |
| I was deeply dismayed by the sight of border control vehicles and floodlights, and then we saw this. |
