New anti-climbing metal spikes have been added to California’s border wall in the latest effort to stop immigrants from entering the country illegally.
The new apostrophe-shaped deterrent was installed atop a 30-foot-tall wall in Friendship Park on the border of San Diego and Tijuana, Mexico.
The curved metal spikes point toward the Mexican side of the border, creating an additional obstacle for migrants trying to scale the wall and enter the United States.
Work is also underway at San Diego’s Friendship Park to replace an 18-foot-tall wall with a 30-foot-tall fence to prevent people from getting injured or killed trying to climb the wall. This is another measure.
“People are already falling all the time and breaking their backs and legs,” warned John Fanestil, executive director of the nonprofit organization Via International. “They’re breaking their spines, and a lot of people are dying from falling border walls, and that’s without the anti-climb shade that they just added.”
The decision to raise the U.S.-Mexico border wall to a height of 30 feet was signed in 2017 during the Trump administration. Since then, doctors in the San Diego area say they’ve seen a spike in spinal injuries caused by migrants trying to cross the border.
The levee stretches along the banks of the Tijuana River, which flows into the United States through a shallow concrete canal that many migrants use to cross the border en masse.
An 800m-long fence has also been erected along the riverbank on the Mexican side. According to the border report.
Doctors at the University of California, San Diego Trauma Center said they treated at least 455 patients with serious injuries in 2023.
“As a neurosurgeon working in San Diego, I can attest that not only are new types of neurological injuries, including traumatic diseases, increasing, but new types of neurological injuries are also occurring. brain Cerebrovascular injuries will leave people unable to work or care for their families,” said Alexander Tenorio. Los Angeles Times. The horror we are seeing now is caused by the height of the wall. ”
The new roof metal section is a prototype and will be added to other parts of the border wall if it is successful in stopping more migrants. According to the border report.
Immigrant advocates complained about security measures in place at Friendship Park, which is located on federal land in the southernmost tip of San Diego and extends out to the ocean.
It was once known as a place where separated families could communicate between the metal parts.
“This is being tested in Friendship Park, which is meant to symbolize the unity of our two countries and the unity of our people,” said immigrant advocate Pedro Rios. “It represents denial, it represents exclusion, it pushes people away.”
The Border Patrol explained that it had “developed an approach that meets the region’s border security needs while addressing feedback from the community,” noting that the park is accessible through a monitored entrance within the wall structure.
Fanestil said construction of the new 30-foot wall along Friendship Park is about 90 percent complete, with anti-climb spikes added over the past two weeks.
“The outside of the wall used to be transparent, but now it’s solid,” Fanestil said.
