A 1,900-mile wall between the U.S. and México, proposed by President Trump, would be disastrous for the environment, the economy and communities living along the border. I know. I grew up there.
In the early 2000s I went to school like any other teen, except that to get there, I crossed the U.S.-México border every day. My mother—then a low-income Mexican teacher with a work visa—woke painfully early to get the family ready and into the car shortly after 6 a.m. A quick drive later, we were bumper-to-bumper in a long line of cars crossing from Mexicali, México, into Imperial Valley, California.
The traffic bottleneck ran parallel to an imposing iron fence at least 20 feet tall. What locals call la linea, or the line, is heavily guarded by immigration agents, drones and towers sporting video cameras. Booths where U.S. officials check commuters’ documents and cargo come at the end of the dreaded bottleneck. On a good day, crossing took about an hour—on a bad day, as long as two and half. Most days felt bad, especially since our house in Mexicali was just three miles from where my mother taught and where my sisters and I went to school.
I am a fronterizo, meaning I grew up on the border—exactly where President Trump wants to build the wall. I am a U.S. citizen by birth and I love my country, though I consider México to be my home, too. This shared commitment isn’t surprising. After all, fronterizos usually work in both countries, shop in both countries and, when the line is short, visit friends and family in both countries. We live as a single community divided by an iron fence; a community that a wall and the anti-immigrant rhetoric from the new administration could tear apart.
For outsiders, the border exists only within a skewed perception of lawlessness and disarray. During the presidential election, candidates unfamiliar with the border repeatedly claimed that security is lacking. They omitted, however, that what our border lacks is not security (the number of border patrol agents has more than doubled since 2004), but rather funding for schools, job training, social services, port of entry renovations and programs to tackle worsening cross-border pollution.
As a fronterizo and a U.S. citizen, I know that our border communities need substantive, positive changes, not a divisive wall, and I understand how irresponsible it would be to misuse our federal funds this way.
The focus on security leaves the public unaware that U.S. counties bordering México have a poverty rate about twice as high as the national average. Research shows similar disparities in education, access to health care and prospects for economic growth. Nor does the public know that air pollution from agriculture, manufacturing and vehicle traffic on both sides of the border needs immediate attention. The same can be said about border commute delays at our rundown ports of entry, which cost the U.S. economy as much as $7.8 billion a year.
A wall is a distraction from the very real issues border communities face. And because it would be prohibitively costly, building this wall is as hypocritical as it is senseless. Maintenance aside, the wall would cost U.S. taxpayers at least $15 billion—enough to send 1.4 million kids to school for a year.
A border wall would also irrevocably harm the environment and wildlife, since construction is likely to create roadblocks in the migration paths of endangered wolves, bighorn sheep, ocelots and other creatures. A wall would also hinder the natural flow of waterways and even contribute to human-caused climate change, since producing cement to build it would dump millions of metric tons of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Earthjustice has worked for years to protect endangered Mexican gray wolves and cut America’s carbon footprint. This wall would drag our country in the wrong direction.
Walls won’t make us any safer, either. There is little evidence that immigrants commit more crimes than U.S.-born citizens. Moreover, undocumented migration from México has been dropping for nearly a decade, while undocumented migration in general has stabilized. Experts note and research shows that immigration employment policies and helping to boost economies to the south are more likely to solve the root cause of the remaining undocumented migration than fortifying the border.
As a fronterizo and a U.S. citizen, I know that our border communities need substantive, positive changes, not a divisive wall, and I understand how irresponsible it would be to misuse our federal funds this way.
I understand as well that many Americans are fearful about their jobs, their safety and a changing national culture. But we can’t let fear be our compass, nor our loudest voice for change. We are a strong nation that values reason and compassion—a country in which bridges of love should always trump walls of fear.
Alejandro Dávila Fragoso is the Bilingual Press Secretary for Earthjustice.
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