Tijuana: Reflections on the border

"TJ? Really?" was the response from most people last week when they learned I was heading down south of San Diego for a research trip.

They were right to be cautious. I live in Mexico City -- one of the biggest, baddest towns around -- but still gave Tijuana a second thought. The world's most famous border city has been getting some bad press of late due to the drug-related violence playing out on its streets.

But what struck me more during my brief trip was the border itself and how it is littered with evidence of its own casualties and conflicts, past and present. The wall is at the center of the current national debate on immigration, and I wanted to see it for myself.

My trip was for field research, and I'd arranged a meeting at the city's Colegio de La Frontera Norte to discuss the thorny issue of immigration with an academic specialist, Jorge Agustin Bustamante Fernández.

As the MexiCoach shuttle sped me across the border from the car park in San Diego, the landscape rapidly transformed from  the First to  the Third World.

There is so much of Latin America that is part of the fabric of the United States -- the region's food, customs, language, and of course its people. But other common features have remained south of the border -- a multitude of stray dogs; littered, unkempt countryside; acute poverty; and building sites that look as if they're on the brink of collapse.

Heading over to el Colegio at the southwestern edge of the city, I spotted Donald Trump smiling out at me from a billboard overlooking the freeway. The taxi sped by workmen without hardhats laboring on his new Trump apartments, going for $265,000 a pop.

"Things here are as normal, calm," said the taxista Federico as he drove.

Tijuana was once a playground of wild and hedonistic abandon to Americans. Now, the border town has become one of the stages on which Mexico's powerful drug cartels are playing out their gruesome war, both against each other and the country's President Felipe Calderon, who has dispatched thousands of Army troops and federal police to tackle them.

This year alone, L.A. Times correspondents north and south of the border have filed grisly reports on the escalating violence. Last month, 11 bodies were found in Tijuana over one three-day stretch. Six of them had been shot execution-style and then set on fire in what appeared to be drug-related violence.

The city's death toll has reached 260 since January, compared with about 152 homicides at this time last year.

Drug cartels and violence are nothing new in Mexico, but the tourists have started to stay away in droves and locals are skipping town.

But Federico said  the violence is between drug gangs from outside who are trying to control the smuggling routes. People living in Tijuana aren't that affected by the outbursts of violence, he contended.

Middle- and upper-class Mexican "refugees" who have moved to San Diego county, north of the border in an attempt to escape the problems, and those who have had family members kidnapped for ransom,  might call that positive spin.

As we continued to head south, the freeway curved off to the left and along the border wall. If you could call it a wall. Crafted out of corrugated iron salvaged from helicopter landing pads from the Vietnam War, the rusty, graffiti-covered barrier that divides Mexico from California seemed more symbolic -- at least in this part -- than practical.

A Mexican Army post along the freeway was perched high on the hill, the first sign of efforts on the Mexican side to control the constant movement of people around the border. The valley dropped off to the side and at the base of it ran the fence, traversed on the other side by a steady stream of white U.S Border Patrol trucks bouncing along the rough gravel lane.

From the taxi, I spotted a group of five men in hooded sweaters carrying plastic bags hurrying along the base of the wall under the nose of the military watch. It was clear they were waiting for their chance to cross the border. The soldiers did nothing. They were more interested when I -- a woman wielding a camera -- stepped out of a cab, rushing to tell me we couldn't park there.

It's of no difference to the Mexican Army or police whether their countrymen and other migrants, some from as far south as Nicaragua, cross into the United States. They don't consider it their problem.

The words of Bustamante Fernández  (pictured) during our meeting that morning suddenly seemed so pertinent to me as we drove away from the checkpoint.

He'd said that the United States treats illegal immigration as a criminal problem, whereas Mexico sees it as a human rights issue. That's true on the part of the United States, but if the Mexican Army is there to watch over the human rights of the migrants, they didn't appear to be doing a very thorough job.

Bustamante Fernández also mentioned that Mexico's northern neighbor tends to treat illegal immigration as a domestic issue and something that can be resolved by sealing the border, and making life hard for undocumented migrants living in the U.S so that they will return home to Mexico (the so-called attrition policy).

His criticisms of the United States seemed fair to me. But from where I was standing last week, the Mexican authorities seemed to be doing  little to stem the flow of people north.  So far, President Felipe Calderon has also given poor, rural Mexican workers little incentive to stay in their homeland since he took power in 2006's controversial elections.

On top of Mexico's indifference toward slowing the flow of people north, migrants heading to the U.S. are in many instances actually exploited by Mexico's corrupt law enforcement branches.

Bustamante Fernández  said that the federal police used to sell time slots to local police forces -- a Tuesday afternoon for example -- for them to go into the mountains and rob migrants trying to cross the wall. His language suggested that was something that happened in the past, rather than now.

Central American migrants have an even harder time than Mexicans. They become illegal as soon as they leave their home countries, making them incredibly vulnerable to both the Mexican public and police. Mexicans, on the other hand, who are planning to cross into El Norte illegally can just walk right up to the northern border with the United States.

Last year, Mexico's national human rights commission even ran a TV advertising campaign imploring the Mexican public to treat migrants from Central America with compassion.

I know Mexicans who have crossed the border illegally numerous times. They tell me that the greatest risk to them wasn't United States Border Patrol agents. It was other Mexicans lurking around on the other side of the border waiting to rob them. They often carry guns. Sometimes the pollero, or people smuggler, is also in on the scam, tipping off their partners about where they're going to cross and then playing along with the robbery.

All this ran through my mind as I neared the airport, keen to get a look at the border wall on the other side of the city. For nearly a mile, white crosses made of wood were nailed to the fence. I asked Federico to stop so I could get a closer look, and we pulled onto the hard shoulder. Each of those crosses bore the name of a person and a state, representing someone who died crossing into the United States.

Luciano Limon Sanchez from Sinaloa. Onesino Salazar Cruz from Oaxaca. Maria Isabel de la Cruz. Some simply said "inidentificado." Unidentified.

Bending down to peek through a rectangular hole in the fence, I could see the new border wall being built by the Department of Homeland Security just 300 yards back. The silver metal fence, topped by razor wire, gleamed bright and hard in the midday sun. Behind it, an American flag fluttered.

Bustamante Fernández  described the DHS border wall project as a "hostile" act. I could see what he meant. The wall, which they're still building, resembles one that you'd expect to see circling a high security prison, but this time they're trying to keep the "criminals" out rather than in.

Finally, I headed for Tijuana's beach. I wanted to see the border wall where it slid into the ocean. Families picnicked in the shade of the fence that cuts a line across the pale sand between San Diego and Tijuana. Seemingly oblivious to the black bars looming behind them, they reclined on the sand, chattering and laughing.

The spaces between the bars were almost big enough for me to squeeze through, but a Border Patrol car parked on the top of a bluff on the San Diego side was a constant, silent presence. Middle-aged Mexican men hung around a little plaza high on a bluff on the other side of the fence, at eye level with the Border Patrol. They waited. 

A young man on the San Diego side of the fence spoke to me in Spanish. He was guiding a field trip from UCLA, and behind him students giggled and took photos of the fence. We snapped pictures of each other across the barrier.

A sign hung on the Mexico side of the wall just before it entered the water, where it ran a further 50 meters before tapering to an end. "There are objects under the water," it warned in English and Spanish. They didn't need to put it on the other side - not many people try to swim from the United States to Mexico.

-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City

Comments

[art tanasco]

The USA is collapsing uder the eieight of mexican incompetence. We cannot carry these mexicans on our back.. its like trying to save a drowning man, in his desperation to live, he will drag the man who swam out to save him under the water with him.

This is what is happening to the USA. The mexicans CANNOT economically `swim` on their own, and demand a one way adoption by Papa USA, who lets them pick the usa clean of all affordable housing and good paying entry level jobs.

The mexican incompetents are destroying the US middle class to keep the mexicans heads above water,when their country is in deep water because of its own peoples inabilities. Americans are now the ones drowning ... in a sea of open mouthed, open handed, law disregarding Mexican illegal aliens.

Go to hell Bush and Dems, ENFORCE OUR DAMN BORDERS...

[L Weiss]

what a poor generic "reflection" of one of the world's most complex societies. I thought this would be a good read based on the intro, but soon realized it was just regurgitated shallow reflections of Tijuana I have read hundreds of times.

A day trip is not enough to give valuable insight. Also, it is obvious from your writing that you had already come with your mind made up about what the city is and what the wall represents, pretty much discrediting anything the Tijuana locals had to say. The taxi driver is not the only one who feels this way about Tijuana, I and many others do as well. It is a complex situation, but there are many of us who do not want to run away and see the city crumble.

While you are correct in your assesment of the indifference expressed by the Mexican army(also expressed by other forces, like the police), why not also mention how overwhelming the situation has gotten for the city of Tijuana? Have you not seen the statistics of how many people arrive daily, in the thousands, not including those who are dported from the U.S. in the hundreds? And from many countries?

Why is there no deep reflection on how this situation came to be? I find it hard to believe that Americans still feel that there were no links created by their society to this problem.
Labor recruitment in Mexico from the U.S.(still occurs people) is equally to blame as is corruption and negligence from Mexico. U.S. involvement in Central American wars and the ravaging of their societies with no economic follow up(sounds like Iraq) cannot be ignored as well. These people didn't just fall from the sky in record numbers, if you analyze all movements from Latin America to the U.S., they significantly increase after U.S. involvement and ties to their countries.

One day I would like to read about how Central American children are dropped off by immigration in Tijuana without a care that it is a different country.

One day I would also like to read interviews of the thousands of residents of Tijuana who are not interested in coming to the U.S. Why? Or, the thousands of intelligent, bicultural border dwellers who make ends meet in amazing and creative ways by building lives on both sides.

One day that will never exist. Regardless of all of the negative coverage given to Tijuana and its problems, it is a place that I cherish. It is unique. A place full of entrepreneurial dreamers, people looking to make a better life, people attempting to live a NORMAL life regardless of seeing a huge wall crammed into their beach and a government that turns the other way when facing problems. They make positives out of the horrible negatives that plague the city, and that is what represents Tijuana.

Why not report on that? It doesn't feed into the set views of what the American public(including you)believe: that the border is an uncontrollable, dangerous place ONLY full of people wanting to cross into the U.S. and stuff your children's faces with drugs.

Keep feeding your fears...

[Daniel Watman]

This reporter did a terrible job. Why did she even go to Tijuana? Throughout the whole article she talked about the drug violence and the problems with criminals crossing our borders, none of which was based o anything she saw or experienced while there. She just followed the path of least resistance of the general thing that always gets reported on Tijuana, drugs, violence, illegal smuggler's. Why didn't she interview someone who lives there and ask them what life is like in Tijuana? Why didn't she talk to the migrants she saw to see what there perspective was on the violence being reported constantly on the news? "The middle age men eye level border patrol waited." How does she know what they were doing. People hang out in the area all the time for all different reasons. Mostly because it's an impacting site to see the fence go right through the middle of the park and the beach. Oh, and she made it sound like this was some time of investigate journalism on the border fence. She skipped the most important thing that is going on with that right now with the construction of the triple fence in the last 3.5 miles that has been held up for 12 years due to environmental regulations that have now been all overiden by the DHS. The interview with Bustamante was the only perspective she got from a Mexican living in Tijuana. Most of what he said contradicted everything she said in her article but she didn't give that much heed. What he said about the fence being a hostile act. What didn't she ask more in Mexico how they felt about the fence? I guess she didn't know that they are building one RIGT NOW as we speak. A massive public works project that is filling in three canyons, building a 150 ft wide high speed corridor, and two more fences behind it (one is more like a wall than a fence as it will be close to 20ft high). She could of wrote a whole article that would have been just as valid about this hostile will lead to animosity and violence at the border giving the complete opposite view point. I'm really bumbed that the LA Times doesn't demand that their reporters (or maybe the editor cut everything out) do real reporting. I guess all I can do is invite people to go to Tijuana and see for themselves since the news more interested in selling head turning shocking violence than doing thorough reporting.

[Teach]

When Bush, the banks, the financiers. and corporations finish with the US economy, Latin America may seem pretty good.

[Liz]

THe border is built to keep the immigrants IN, not OUT so its easier for the businessowners to keep them working in their restaurants during Christmas season, when every Mexican go home to celebrate Christmas in Mexico.

The Federal Government uses our money to keep them in but never try to arrest anyone inside the USA.

Check out how many miles is the border. Its all illussions. The Business owners wants everyone to think that there is a border when there is none.

aaaaaarrrgggggghhhh.... They think we are so stupid.

[S.H.]

Here we go again...

blah blah blah... all immigrants are criminals and are to blame for the economy, the war, and high gas prices.

[John]

illegal immigration is a criminal problem..why dont you interview homeowners along the border who live in fear from drug runners crossing their land every night. Or interview victims of identity theft , a crime that is commonly committed by illegal aliens. thats where peoples sympathy should lie, not with people that illegally cross the border

[tony/germany]

Well, I guess the problems are quite similar to what we experience over her in the "auld world". Europe being a fortress and all the sad stories with people from Africa trying to get in. Every day young men and women from Senegal, Mali and other states of the African continent try to make it to Canary Islands, Gibraltar or Italy in small boats, many of them die on their way. Of course all the misery of this planet can't be solved in a short time, but let's not forget the fate of any walls (Berlin Wall included): they crumble....

[Juan M Gomez]

How come the flow of goods provided by NAFTA doesn't include the flow of labor ? even Reagan saw its convenience ! Mexican trucks are not allowed to cross regularly because of safety issues in spite of the treaty. Has 'acceptable racism' anything to do with it ?

[jon]

Our country has an obligation to provide services and security for its citizens. It does not, however, have an obligation to be a refuge for the world. People may come here because it's better - I get that. But no other country in the world struggles with whether to support non-citizens en masse and provide them refuge, education, and social services. Try showing up at a public school in Japan or Germany and see what happens. And that's not an indication that the US is "better." We could pull that off when we were financing our futures with large scale debt. Those days are over. I'm sorry to say it, but US needs to provide for its citizens first now.

[Anna Cearley]

Lovely posting and reflections of the border. Looks like we might have just crossed paths or missed each other. I was in Tijuana this weekend to go to an art event and a seafood festival . My life for the past seven years meant undergoing a constant mental and physical shift in going back and forth between north and south. I still feel like a border resident. Anna

[Cashmann]

If Mexico thinks the U.S. is wrong why do they have stronger laws to deal with illegal immigration? Oh & human rights ask the Chiapas', Guatemalans or Hondurans what they think of the Way the Mexican Government treats them.

[Sam Dodge]

. It is not fair for the future of Mexico for us to continue to provide a
pressure valve for the discontent and hoplessness rampant in the political
and economic system of our neighbor to the south. If our borders ever
became sealed that discont that results in millions of the most industrious
and motivated leaving their country would force the cultural changes needed
in the southern hemisphere. Unregulated immigration helps no one ultimately.

[Irene legal immigrant]

Build the wall. Go ICE