Tijuana Mayor Montserrat Caballero has placed a portion of the Berlin Wall by the U.S.-Mexico border in a display to call for less border security between the two nations amid an ongoing migration crisis.
The Associated Press reports the display consists of a 3-ton pockmarked, gray concrete slab located between a bullring, a lighthouse and the border wall, which extends into the Pacific Ocean.
"May this be a lesson to build a society that knocks down walls and builds bridges," reads the inscription below the display, attributed to Mayor Caballero and titled, "A World Without Walls."
When it was unveiled in August, Mexico’s former foreign secretary Marcelo Ebrard was in attendance. Ebrard is now a leading presidential candidate for Mexico's presidential election next year.
"Why in Tijuana?" Caballero told the AP. “How many families have shed blood, labor and their lives to get past the wall? The social and political conflict is different than the Berlin Wall, but it's a wall at the end of the day. And a wall is always a sphinx that divides and bloodies nations."
“We are against violence, we are against family separation, we are against division, and that's what the wall represents,” Caballero added, though also admitting she understands the U.S. needs to enforce its laws.
In part due to Tijuana's location but also because of the double wall infrastructure, the number of illegal crossings during President Joe Biden's border crisis, is lower than compared to other parts of the U.S.-Mexico border where a border wall is not present. Still, due to the major issue, the San Diego Sector has seen an increase in illegal border activity.
Weekly Update, 8/23 – 8/29
— Chief Patrol Agent Patricia D. McGurk-Daniel (@USBPChiefSDC) August 30, 2023
-5,109 Apprehensions from 63 countries
-100 Unaccompanied Minors encountered
-126 Rescues
-31 Human Smuggling Events Interdicted
-4 Gang Member & Sex Offenders Arrested
SEIZED:
-19lbs. Heroin
-23 Smuggling Conveyances
-2 Firearms pic.twitter.com/QoozQ6ql82
8/20: San Diego agents rescued 2 lost juveniles on Otay Mountain after the children had been abandoned by smugglers. #BorderPatrol agents go above & beyond daily to help others in need. pic.twitter.com/MfgVXf94hh
— Chief Patrol Agent Patricia D. McGurk-Daniel (@USBPChiefSDC) August 21, 2023
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