The U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced it would resume construction of a secondary border wall at Friendship Park after a five-month pause, the agency announced Thursday.
The decision to replace the old 18-foot walls and construct 30-foot new border walls in early 2023 comes after months of feedback and outreach from the community, except for a small area that will remain 18 feet tall. The construction is anticipated to take approximately six months to complete.
“Along with reviewing the operational conditions of U.S. Border Patrol in this immediate area, CBP has developed an approach that meets the border security needs of the area while also addressing feedback from the community. Upon completion of the project, CBP is committed to providing visitors on the U.S. border with access to Friendship Park,” the news release reads.
Friendship Park, otherwise known as El Parque de la Amistad, sits on the westernmost end of the U.S.-Mexico border just south of San Diego. The space which has been a meeting place for years was inaugurated in 1971 by first lady Pat Nixon to allow those who don't have permission to return to the United States to connect with their loved ones but through a fence.
Friends of Friendship Park, a community group opposed to the construction, said “the proposal to ‘dip’ the primary border wall to 18 feet for a small stretch near the center of Friendship Park is a token and inadequate gesture”.
“This proposal will create the worst design Friendship park has ever seen. It will be a step backward rather than forward, in pursuit of the vision of “International Friendship Park” that First Lady Pat Nixon announced at the inauguration of California’s Border Field State Park on Aug.18, 1917,” the group wrote in a statement.
According to CBP, access to the park will be coordinated with U.S. Border Patrol through a gate in the secondary barrier during designated periods “once it is operationally safe to do so.” The agency said it “remains committed” to restoring the bi-national garden located within the park following the completion of construction activities.
“This will allow visitors on the U.S. side of the border to communicate with friends and family located in Mexico on the other side of the primary barrier like in years past,” CBP wrote in a statement.
Friends of Friendship Park say that the plan will further desecrate the bi-national character of the park, undermine cross-border connection, obstruct the cross-border and ocean vistas in both nations; and destroy yet again the bi-national Friendship Garden of Native Plants on both sides of the border.
“The Mexican side of the park is already joyously well-utilized. The people of Mexico host a 'fiesta'every weekend at Friendship Park. The people of the United States should be allowed to join the party, and the U.S. federal government should celebrate and support the opportunity to reaffirm the fundamental truth that our nations are friends, not enemies,” Friends of Friendship Park wrote in a statement.
