The United States–Mexico border is the epicenter of an intensely emotional national debate. Trying to find out for myself what life near the border feels like and how the construction of the wall has impacted local communities I packed my sketching supplies and headed South.
Bordertown Communities
Nogales, Arizona
(Population 20,000)
This border community is home to five border crossings: the Morley Port of Entry for pedestrian traffic, DeConcini Port of Entry for pedestrians, passenger vehicles, and trains; Mariposa Port of Entry for all modes of entry, the Nogales International Airport, and
a cattle gate for livestock crossing.
The town of Nogales is a striking example where the wall runs straight through the heart of the community and the construction of the wall has been an evolving project spanning decades. The metal slats went up shortly after 9/11, and the contribution Trump’s administration is the installation of military style concertina wire–a coiled metal reinforced with razor blades.
Several rows of unsightly spiky coils line the wall on the US side, sometimes a few away from the residences and sidewalks, making it feel like the population of the US side of Nogales is imprisoned.
On the other side is a vibrant Mexican town is going about its normal activities–families hang the colorful laundry to dry on the balconies right above the wall, the sounds of rancheras echo in the streets, the smell of tamales fills the air.
As I sketched the long stretch of the wall that snakes up and down the hilly side of deserted road a border patrol officer was keeping an eye on me from his truck parked in the hillside.
Nogales- Morley gate port of Entry
As visitors from the Mexican side crossed the border they opened up their shopping carts while still putting their IDs into their wallets. Some shoppers have a visa in the form of a card. Shopping across the border is very popular for Mexicans as prices tend to be a lot lower on the US side. Traffic from Mexico is also the main source of livelihood for the businesses on the Arizona side. As the economic situation got worse over the years shoppers who used to come here for more expensive purchases are now stocking up on milk, blankets, and other essentials to resell and bring to friends and families. Certain groceries like milk are half the price compared to Mexico.
As I was sketching and observing a steady stream of pedestrian traffic in both directions I witnessed one Mexican boy who came through the gate. He seemed to be the only person to be duly excited “Estamos en Estados Unidos!” Everybody else quietly pushed shopping carts, strollers and suitcases and went about their business without much emotion at crossing the border.
Border patrol officers seemed pretty relaxed, rolling around on their bikes. One border patrol officer took a smoking break and stopped to check out my sketch. “Don’t draw this ugly wall” he remarked, but otherwise seemed to be very pleased with the sketch.
Pedestrian crossing structure was built in the 1930s. The separation was a lot more porous back then. A lot of times kids would play on either side of the border without realizing it. Gradually, the border has been “hardened”.
On Sundays this crossing closes at 4pm. The same border patrol officer came out to lower the American flag and then carefully folded it as the things were shutting down. Late shoppers and visitors returning to Mexico had to use another crossing, to get back home.
Kory’s Bridal Shop, Nogales, Arizona
Right across the street from the border wall reinforced with rows of paramilitary wire is Kory’s bridal shop. Elegant white tulle veils and silk dresses adorned with sequins and rhinestones are on display in the shop window just feet away from the border patrol agents and security cameras. The choice of location for this business seems odd now, but
it made a lot of strategic sense before the current steel slat wall went up.
Before the wall and before the pedestrian point of entry was reinforced with metal cage enclosures and rows of concertina wire were spread on the US side people in both Mexican and US Nogaleses had a clear enough view of the other side to be able to window-shop from across the border. Occasionally employees would even take the dresses out of the shop and show them to potential customers on the Mexican side. That way a future bride or quinceañera’s mother who didn’t have the right papers
to cross could send a friend or relative to the shop to pick up her dress or a pair of shoes for a special occasion.
My sketching connected me with Evan Kory, a pianist and a business owner of Kory’s bridal shop and the Cinderella store located near the border.
From his shop Evan can see the line of people waiting for their turn at the border crossing. When it gets really hot it becomes dangerous for older people to wait in line for hours. Once he witnessed an elderly man get a heat stroke. In 2012 Evan’s mom Sandra Kory delivered a baby at the pedestrian crossing on the US side. A young woman standing in line went into labor while waiting in line to cross the border.
Evan recalled looking up from his shop one day in November of 2018 and seeing authorities install the concertina wire on the existing wall. It seemed like no one in town, including the mayor was notified in advance. The look and feel of the town, especially the streets adjacent to the wall were changed instantly. Even told himself to remember the feeling of seeing it for the first time. “You get used to everything, and I knew with time it would no longer shock me, so I wanted to remember what it felt like the first day when I saw it (razor wire) go up.”
Before the wall and before the pedestrian point of entry was reinforced with metal cage enclosures and rows of concertina wire were spread on the US side people in both Mexican and US Nogaleses had a clear enough view of the other side to be able to window-shop from across the border.
Both Mexican and American Nogalese were built out of the railroad crossing. Trains cross the border 4-5 times a day. I watched the long process of the border crossing by a freight train. A sky bridge nearby allows one a good view of both the American and the Mexican sides of the border. I climbed up and watched a train approach slowly from the North heading into Mexico. The process is lengthy and requires the coordination of workers on both sides of the border. This train came to a full stop in order to be inspected. This is the oldest train crossing in the country and allows for commerce flow between Mexico, US, and Canada. It is also one of the five possible ways to cross into Mexico in this town alone. The other four being a pedestrian only crossing, car, freight, and cattle.
Less than 30 miles east from the steel slat wall wrapped in concertina wire in the town of Nogales the border between Mexico and USA is harder to spot. This area is heavily dominated by ranch land, and there are not a lot of places where you can even approach the border. Here the wall is expressed as a vehicle barrier. I did not see a lot of border patrol officers in close proximity to the border itself, although the patrol vehicles were more frequent 10-15 miles north.
The border town of Lochiel, Arizona used to be inhabited by Mexican ranchers. When a survey of the land was done in the late 19th century it was discovered that half of the town was in the US, and the other half belonged to Mexico. There are only a couple of structures still surviving to this day—the one room school house and the teacherage pictured here. I was curious when the school was last is use as the town looked completely abandoned. The sign out front warned drivers to watch for children, but not a soul was around to answer my many questions.
The town of Bisbee, Arizona is located about 12 miles north of the border with Mexico. Bisbee is a delightful town with a vibrant artistic community in the middle of a conservative Cochise county. When the copper mines closed here in the eighties the town became a ghost town. Soon artists, musicians, and hippies heard about vacant homes and buildings and moved in creating this liberal oasis of art and color surrounded by the mountain side that was torn open by the massive mine operations leaving behind the brew of toxic tailings.
© RITA SABLER
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