Border Changes

I am currently in San Diego, California, with law students from around the country, teaching Hofstra’s Immigration Law and Border Enforcement course. Over the next week, you may hear from some of these students as they report back on our experiences at the border.

Yesterday morning, we toured the U.S.-Mexico border with Border Patrol. I was absolutely shocked to see the difference on the border in just one year.

The primary fencing that had been in place since the Clinton administration has been largely dismantled. Here is what the fencing used to look like. It was made from landing mats dating to the Vietnam War.

Now, for several miles in San Diego, the primary fence looks like this: 

At the same time, the secondary fence that has been in place since 2006 has also changed. Stretches of the fencing continue to look as they have for years.

But in many areas the secondary fencing now looks like this:

The concrete base extends four feet into the ground. And each of those steel bollards is filled with concrete. Here is what the different fencing looks like side-by-side:

Down at the beach where the fencing ends has also dramatically changed. For years, it looked like this:

Now this entire stretch is covered in coils and coils of concertina wire.

I am a news junkie. I knew things were changing at the border. Yet I was surprised to see such a rapid and dramatic transformation of the physical landscape.

-KitJ