How I walked across the border to Mexico and back
MSNBC is screaming about endless streams of immigrants seeking asylum with crying children. Fox is screaming about endless streams of immigrants seeking asylum with crying children. With smallpox. Today I decided to go see for myself.
Almost nothing about my experience was what I expected it to be. I picked the border crossing in Calexico since, according to data from the US Customs and Border Patrol almost 3,500 people have been apprehended at this location just last month alone. And also because this is the border crossing that President Trump decided to go to for his April visit just after he threatened to close the border before he decided to leave it open.
My first stop was at the Imperial Regional Detention Facility on Gateway Road in Calexico. This facility holds 782 men and women, under what is described as multi-level security, and is managed by Management and Training Corporation. The facility is on the outskirts of Calexico, which is itself a small town with a population of about 40k many hours from the nearest larger city. Difficult to see from the road, it’s accessed by a long driveway that works it’s way back to the facility, but let’s just call it a prison. My first impression was the absolute desolate nature of the place. No one, and I mean no one, was in sight. The entire complex – the building, parking lot, fences, were all alone in the middle of vast fields. The parking lot had maybe 30 cars and trucks. The buildings have no windows of any kind, more like a warehouse. And they are surrounded by several layers of fence with barbed wire on top. My immediate impression was surprise at the complete lack of people: visitors, staff, and immigrants. Eerie is the only word that fit. I spent a reasonable amount of time taking photos, half expecting someone to come out but no one did. I noticed a guard perhaps on break in her car so I asked her where everyone was. She seemed puzzled so I said “I was expecting to see thousands of people, immigrants, families trying to reach them, lawyers, guards. Where is everyone?” And she said “everyone’s inside, we’re not going to let them all outside are we?” So I said “I thought you probably would let them outside. Aren’t there about 1,000 people inside?” Her reply: “yes”. I said “I thought from the news there would be more confusion, more people, more activity” and she said “no it’s not like that at all”. She then said you’re welcome to come back and visit the inside and talk with the warden if you want to but he’s not here today. She suggested I just call ahead and schedule a visit.
Takeaways. The building is definitely built as a high security prison. The absence of windows and outdoor facilities for exercise is strange, and eerily intimidating. It is not remotely the type of facility I would expect to house people seeking asylum and is more what I expect would house violent criminals. It’s possible there are windows and an exercise area in an interior courtyard, but if so that’s also strange. It’s also possible that the complete absence of people is deliberate, a way to make the entire facility appear more calm and under control than it is. But the combination of all of this made this part of the experience like something out of a Stephen King novel. Triple fence, barbed wire, buildings in the middle of fields, no guards, no windows, and 1,000 asylum seekers hidden from view.
Next stop the section of the fence where Trump’s visit was filmed. What wasn’t shown in the video footage is the enormous outlet mall whose parking lot was the backdrop for the photo op. The border wall, or fence, is simply the boundary of the outlet mall parking lot. When I pulled into the lot, I saw about 20 military trucks and countless personnel, all armed with rifles milling about, incongruously, in front of a store called A’Gaci. There were two jacklifts with fatigued military personnel on each one, slowly seeming to paint the fence, although it didn’t really look as though they were painting it, more like just raising and lowering the jacklifts and looking at the fence as they went up and down. All of the other trucks and personnel were there simply guarding the four men on two jacklifts going up and down. Again I spent a reasonable amount of time walking around and taking photos of everything. Again no one approached me to ask me what I was doing. There weren’t any people on the other side of the fence, nor really anyone else around except for the military folks, myself, and an older couple from Arizona, the man wearing a MAGA cap, taking selfies in front of the border patrol trucks and the border wall.
I walked up to one of the trucks, this one with three men inside, all with rifles ready on their knees, and again asked my question. “Where is everyone?” Again the look. Again my explanation. Again the answer “no it’s not like that at all”. I said “that’s the actual border right?” “yes” “is there somewhere I can go to actually see all the people trying to get in?” “not that we know of, we’re not really from around here, maybe just try walking to the border crossing and ask”.
So that was my next stop. I left the outlet mall/Trump photo op with the military platoon and parked in downtown Calexico, which is actually just a block from the actual border crossing, and walked inadvertently into the outbound lane of the actual border patrol crossing. Again very nice guards, all with rifles at the ready. I explained that I was interested in understanding what was actually going on at the border while I was trying also to look into the room at the people coming into our country, all orderly, single file line, multiple checkpoints, very much like the airport. Again my question, again the look, again the response “no it’s not like that at all”. So I said “but this is the actual place where people are coming in right? That line of people right there? Those are immigrants and asylum seekers and workers and green card holders? The whole collection of people?” “yep”. So I said is there a place where I can go and see the whole line of people trying to get in? And he said not really. No viewing platform? No. Then he said “why don’t you just walk over and walk back? Then you can see the whole thing.” “ I didn’t bring a passport” “that’s ok, just use your driver’s license” “seriously? You don’t need a passport to get in?” “not if you’re an American you don’t” He said “why do you want to see the line?” While part of me was still shocked at how willing to engage every person I’d met so far had been I explained to him about MSNBC and Fox and chickenpox and swarms of people and fence climbing and screaming and crying and he just sort of smiled and said “yeah it’s not like that at all, just go ahead and go over and come back”. So I did.
I walked across the border and into Mexico. No screening. No questions. No ID request. No registration. One Mexican guard who just smiled and nodded. No need to explain about Fox and the measles. I wandered around for a while, looking for lines of people trying to get in. Again my questions of several people I saw, again the same responses, although in Spanish. So then I came back.
I got in line with about 20 other people, the sum total of people waiting to cross into the United States at the Calexico border crossing on foot. I fumbled with a machine that everyone else was putting their ID cards into before the immigration officer motioned me forward and said “your ID won’t work in that”, of course he knew by looking. He took my driver’s license and I had a momentary flashback to when I tried to renew my driver’s license once in Connecticut and found out I had a bench warrant from Oklahoma for a speeding ticket they gave me electronically that I never knew about that precipitated a trip to Oklahoma to clear that up before I could renew my license and I was wondering how I would get to Oklahoma if I couldn’t get back into the United States when he just waived me through. No questions, no search, no screening. I knew this was my last opportunity so again I asked “Where are all the people trying to get in?” And he said “this is it, but everybody here is really just going over to shop or work and then go back home”. I said “what about all of the asylum seekers?” and he said “maybe tonight we’ll get a few”.
So then I crossed back into the United States, said hello to the border guard I met on my way in the out door, got in my car and went to lunch.
So, lessons.
First, immigration is big business, and that’s what drives the narrative. Calexico has more infrastructure improvement projects going on than I think I’ve ever seen anywhere, certainly unusual for a city of 40k. Private prison operators are raking in the bucks, and they’re going to do whatever it takes not to screw that up, including turning their prisons into a Disneyland of strange. And fear and paranoia are good for everybody else. The President pukes it up, and the media gleefully feeds on it. This certainly doesn’t mean that there aren’t other parts of the country where the experience I had today might be different. Maybe the Rio Grande crossing is a different story, but I decided to make my stand where Trump made his. Maybe my experience would also have been different if I weren’t white and instead was brown or black. Probably. But the bottom line is that today I went to Calexico half expecting to end up in jail for trying to help an immigrant family reach the US, and instead I had completely calm conversations with armed guards at a prison, armed military at the outlet mall, armed border patrol agents at the border, and a countless number of friendly Mexicans. Oh, and a nod hello from a Mexican border agent. Always question the narrative.