The sandy riverbank where Jim & Rex would walk

Just across the street from our place is a bare sandy field that stretches north about 80 yards to a small green river. The river is about 50 feet across, and on the other side is the United States. It’s a very nice place for bicycle rides and jogging, or just to sit and watch the river go by.

The new US steel wall

It had become a favorite place for Jim to take Rex for a long walk, or a brief jog. All of a sudden the sandy field and the river were gone – blocked off by a huge ugly 20 foot steel wall right by the side of the street.

One day, there was no wall; the next there it was. Just like that.

Working on the steel wall

Jim and I were amazed at how fast the thing appeared, and got in our truck to check it out. It turns out that the sandy riverside where Jim and Rex used to spend time was not Mexico, but America. They were walking and jogging in America and didn’t even realize it.

Apparently, there was no need to wall off anything because of the river. Now times had changed, I guess.
We drove down the street, which was now all closed in by a big ugly wall. Down the road aways, the wall ended. Jim stopped the truck to take a look. On the other side were sections of steel stacked and ready to be put in place. With all that heavy steel, the thing must cost a fortune to build. There were men, trucks and equipment, all working very fast to build the wall.

As soon as Jim started taking some photos, the people working to put up the wall ran and hid behind their trucks and equipment. Did they think Jim was some kind of terrorist? Did they think that if he got their photo, they were marked for death? Maybe so, because as Jim started walking over to talk to the folks – off in the distance two trucks started speeding towards him – one was a US Border Patrol truck, and the other, the Mexican police. All of a sudden another US Border Patrol truck came over the hill at Jim. Continue reading The US Border Patrol chases Jim