December 2018
Friendship Park is a half-acre park that runs along the San Diego – Tijuana border that splits the United States and Mexico. While the US side is located on federal property – under the jurisdiction of the Department of Homeland Security – and is monitored 24 hours a day by US Border Patrols, the Mexican side of the park, made up of Playas de Tijuana, is unsurprisingly a lot more relaxed.
In 2021, the park will celebrate the 50th anniversary of its inauguration by then First Lady, Pat Nixon. A pyramidal statue was set up at the time as a symbol of friendship between the two countries, with the First Lady somewhat ironically declaring: “I hope there won’t be a fence too long here.”
The fence she was referring to was a simple, barbed-wire fence, where at the time, people from both sides would often meet and actually be able to touch and pass things through to each other. Over time, however, as fear of illegal immigration, and after that terrorism, grew, the US began what was known as Operation Gatekeeper. That lead to a 14-mile fence being constructed along the border, and eventually, in 2009, the Department of Homeland Security closed down the park and spent the next 3 years constructing what we see today. The new divide, includes a second parallel fence that has barbed wires, sensors, and surveillance cameras and stretches almost 100 metres into the ocean.
Finally, in 2012, under pressure from the public and various activist groups, the federal government agreed to reopen the park. Positively, and despite some strict border regulations, the park has managed to establish itself as a space where families separated by immigration laws can meet, even if they are divided by a fence that limits contact to only the tips of their fingers. Artists from around the world have used the border wall as a canvas to express themselves and to leave a message of solidarity to migrants who sometimes travel from distant Mexican or U.S. states to spend a few hours near their loved ones.