Monday, November 9, 2009

As we celebrate the fall of the Berlin Wall, border walls are built in Brownsville, Texas

While the world celebrates the fall of the Berlin Wall, the United States is continuing construction on its own border wall in the southern tip of Texas. The following photos show the progress of the construction and how the people of Brownsville, Texas are having to learn to live with a wall in their midst.
Construction has been completed through many residential neighborhoods. This one is off Milpa Verde Street in East Brownsville.


A child plays in the shadow of the border wall behind her house.


Looking North into the neighborhood from behind the wall.

A border patrol surveillance tower and the border wall visible at the end of a Brownsville cul-de-sac.

Construction on the wall is quickly approaching Hope Park, a city park that was established on the banks of the Rio Grande in part to commemorate the strong ties between the U.S. and Mexico.

Inside Hope Park. The marker on the left is where the wall will be built. On the right is a state historical marker for the Chisolm Trail.

East of Brownsville is the Sabal Palms Audubon Sanctuary, home of the largest surviving stand of native Sabal Palms. With the border wall's impending construction, the sanctuary has been closed to the public since last spring. The gate on the left blocks the entrance to the sanctuary, and the sign has been taken down.

The border wall reaching the edge of the Nature Conservancy Southmost Preserve. Construction here is delayed while Nature Conservancy fights DHS in court.

Homeowners living across the street from the border wall draw explicit parallels between the border wall and the Berlin wall.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Mr. Obama. TEAR DOWN THIS WALL!

Anonymous said...

Mr Obama, you offered change. You have REDUCED border patrol agents. You are building MORE walls. More if the same. More shame. TEAR DOWN THIS WALL!

Unknown said...

As a former Sabal Palm Sanctuary manager, I am greatly saddened by this. Thousands of Brownsville and Lower Rio Grande Valley school children came to the palm forest each year to see this unique native jungle and receive quality hands-on interpretive programs. At times even school children from Mexico crossed the border to see these beautiful, hundred-year-old palms. Walls can come down, but how many generations of children will miss out before they do?

Billie Greenwood said...

Mistaken policy. Shirked responsibilities. This wall is a wall of shame and will stand as a rebuke to this nation until its demise...and that day will come; it is just a matter of time. Meanwhile, as Karen expressed...how much damage, how many missed opportunities?

Anonymous said...

The Brownsville herald ran a story that the AP picked up saying that the border wall would spare Hope Park. Their reporter needs to learn how to report, instead of just repeating what she is told by politicians with a vested interest in making Brownsville residents think that they scored a victory, when really they caved in to DHS. The City Commissioners put up no fight, and in the end gave away Hope Park and other property valued at $100,000 for free. They say that the wall will be removable, but the design that they are talking about is the one behind the kid's house. Plus, it won't get moved until the city of Brownsville pays to build a replacement wall.

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JesseArg! said...

Stop the wall!
FREE THE LAND!