Chicana on the Edge

Mentioning the unmentionable since 2004

Christmas in Not-Mexico-But-Not-Really-the-US-Either
written by Regina Rodríguez-Martin
December 22, 2011

I just learned that the fence that separates Mexico from the U.S. doesn’t actually run along the Mexico-U.S. border. According to a post on The Lookout, a news blog, the Rio Grande forms the natural boundary between the two countries, but because of a treaty with Mexico that prohibits building in the Rio Grande floodplain, the U.S. border fence stands more than a mile north of the official borderline and thousands of Americans live in that isolated strip of land. They live south of the U.S-Mexico border wall, but are still geographically inside the United States. For some of them, the fence divides their property. For all of them, the fence has drastically lowered the value of their homes.

The border wall as it stands now has gaps of several feet placed almost randomly along it. Some landowners use those gaps to get to their property. Now the government is considering sealing those gaps, which will require a solution that will allow property owners to still be able to access their land. This will be the residents’ fourth Christmas with the fence. Increíble.

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1 Comment

  1. Anonymous

    This is insane. I mean, really, really insane. Why are so many people in love with this fence? Also, I feel so bad for the folks who live in that no man's land because, you know, like property values aren't falling fast enough, now the government has to build a big fence through your land?

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