US(Washington Insider Magazine)-SAN DIEGO (Transatlantic Today)– The Biden administration decided to halt plans for a twin border wall on Thursday, according to opponents who argue it would destroy a 51-year-old beachfront park that symbolizes goodwill between the United States and Mexico.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Chris Magnus claimed that he wants to hear from the public before deciding on a wall plan for Friendship Park, which then-first lady Pat Nixon inaugurated in 1971. Visitors to the park could formerly travel easily to San Diego and Tijuana, but access from the United States has steadily reduced over the past 15 years and has been fully closed off for more than 2 years.
Magnus, a former Tucson, Arizona, chief of police who assumed his current position in December, imposed the suspension a week after Friends of Friendship Park representatives met with Border Patrol agents to request a 120-day suspension of work that was about to start, according to ABC NEWS.
Magnus only said that the general public will have access to the park for at least 2 days each month.
Although its concept has not been disclosed, Friends of Friendship Park claimed Border Patrol authorities informed the group last week that it would consist of two tightly spaced, 30-foot-high steel bollards, similar to the vast majority of the hundreds of miles of wall built during Donald Trump’s presidency. The double wall at Friendship Park is currently shorter or more permeable.
The Rev. John Fanestil of Friends of Friendship Park stated during a press conference last week that views from Tijuana will be significantly decreased.
Fanestil praised the construction halt on Thursday, calling it “a step in the right direction,” but Friends of Friendship Park claimed that the park’s opening on just 2 days per month, as promised by CBP, would not be sufficient to accommodate cross-border religious services, a binational garden of native plants, and other community activities.
A request for comment was not immediately answered by the union that represents border patrol agents, the National Border Patrol Council.
When he took office, President Joe Biden immediately put a stop to border wall building, one of Trump’s top domestic goals. However, he has occasionally permitted work under extremely specific conditions. The government said last week that it was completing four holes in a Trump-era wall near Yuma, Arizona, which has grown to be one of the busiest routes for unauthorized crossings.
