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Jan 20, 2024

Biden administration to resume construction of taller border barrier at Friendship Park

U.S. Customs and Border Protection will resume border barrier construction in

U.S. Customs and Border Protection will resume border barrier construction in the historic Friendship Park area early this year, the agency said Tuesday, after a several-month pause.

The agency had stopped the project after criticism from community groups and politicians over plans to replace the structures separating Tijuana from Imperial Beach with 30-foot-high walls. It is not yet clear what changes, if any, the agency has made to its construction plans as the project resumes.

In a news release, CBP called the move a "new path forward" and estimated the project would take about six months to complete.

"After analyzing the feedback received during the pause, along with reviewing the operational conditions of U.S. Border Patrol in this immediate area, CBP has developed an approach that meets the border security needs of the area while also addressing feedback from the community," the statement says.

Inaugurated in 1971 by first lady Pat Nixon, the park is on the edge of California's Border Field State Park and situated between the two layers of border barrier, or primary and secondary fences. For years, Friendship Park has been a meeting place for people who don't have permission to return to the U.S. if they leave the country. They were able to visit with loved ones through the fence.

However, the park has been closed since the pandemic began in 2020. As construction crews moved to build taller barriers to replace the roughly 18-foot-high structures, advocates began to raise alarms that the new walls could mean an end to the park's binational reunions. A collective called Friends of Friendship Park, which for years has opposed restrictions to the space, led the calls for construction to stop.

The Trump administration had increased border wall height to 30 feet in many places, including in other parts of the San Diego area. Since then, doctors working in the region's trauma hospitals have noticed a marked increase in injuries and deaths from falls off the wall.

Under pressure, CBP paused its plans in August to meet with local stakeholders, including with Friends of Friendship Park.

The group declined to comment Tuesday but said more information would be coming from Friends of Friendship Park soon.

In September, a design team organized by the advocates recommended that the current structures be repaired instead of replaced. CBP's statement announcing the resumption of construction refers to replacing these structures instead of repairing them.

"Upon completion of the project, CBP is committed to providing visitors on the U.S. side of the border with access to Friendship Park," the statement says.

U.S. Border Patrol will control access to the park through a gate in the secondary barrier, the statement says, "during designated periods of time, once it is operationally safe to do so."

Advocates have also expressed worry that construction will destroy the U.S. side of a binational garden of native plants that the primary fence bisects.

The statement says that Border Patrol will restore the binational garden after construction completes.