for a long time, they had to see a human, so met johnny. now the trenches has become very protective of whales and tassels. the results of the ocean conservation the start september full of dw. this is what the us mexico border used to look like. and in many places, this is what it looks like today. we're going to build a wall. it will get built. i think it's just become an obsession. but that obsession actually didn't start was donald trump. why do us politicians seem so fixated on this border? and who really built all these barriers much of the us mexican border runs in straight lines. but in texas it suddenly gets

very curvy. that's because the border runs along the rio grande river, such as here between p address negress and mexico and eagle pass. and the us this bridge is the official border crossing along the river. you see these color full rectangles? they're shipping containers and make sure it's board and wall and those are texas national guard troops at the border. all that is meant to deter undocumented immigrants trying to cross the river into the us. the state of texas took these measures. and donald trump is it that texas has done an amazing job. eagle passes just one extreme example on a 3000 kilometer long border. elsewhere, it looks like this, or is this,

or is this and by the way, o u. s. territory bordering mexico used to be part of mexico less than 200 years ago. but that's another story. today, it's one of the busiest borders in the world. these are the spots to cross legally. but in recent years, millions of people have cross the border, illegally leading poverty and violence in latin america and beyond. there are a lot of stories here, of people risking their lives of racism, of immigration system that's over whelmed. and ultimately, of millions of people living and working in the us on documents ends and

many sectors of the us economy relying on these workers. let's just say finding political solutions is complicated. but drums approach seems easy. i will end the illegal immigration crisis by closing our border and finishing the wall, most of which i've already felt. well, not exactly currently there are around 1100 kilometers of completed border fencing. much of texas doesn't have any sense. this one reason for that, the rio grande and the rugged terrain around the rivers serve as a natural barrier. plus a lot of the land in texas is privately owned and it's hard for the government to build a fence on it. most of the fencing that does exist started with presidents before

trump, to figure out who built the barriers and why we have to go all the way back to time when republican presidential candidates talked very differently about undocumented immigrants, rather than making them are talking about putting up a fence. why don't we work out some recognition of our mutual problems, make it possible for them to come here legally with the work permits? here is mary e. mendoza historian of the us mexico border labs. and it is a complete 1. 80 from what you see republicans talk about today. republicans are like, they're horrible. their originals as president ronald reagan signed a bill that gave roughly 3000000 on documented people in the country legal status. that was actually the last time there was

a major immigration reform in the us. the with that was like, ok now we can really reinforce the border so that we don't create this problem again. right? to have being documented people. that's it. i say my coronado, the director of the school of transport of studies. she grew up in arizona right at the border. so um they started to militarize the border that militarization was a bipartisan effort. but more than that later. let's 1st stay with the republicans and what happened at the border after the major turning point and recently us history. 911. that change the world that change the us mexico border? absolutely. even though the terrorist did not come from mexico, united states has never been attacked that way. and the idea that other terrorist would come through the southern border to inflict harm and the united states was

real. thanks please be seated. the president george w bush took action you over here. we have a responsibility to secure our borders in 2006, both signed to secure funds act. and by the way, the act was supported by democrats in congress, including some familiar faces. motion to secure fence that ultimately doubled the number of border patrol agents and call for more than 1000 kilometers of fencing at the southern border that the us fence building had actually started long before and the democrats said quite a role in that that's had to a place called friendship park. it's right at the border of san diego, california in the us, and did wanna in mexico. pat mixon,

the wife of republican president, richard nixon, opened the park in 1971 and greeted mexicans across the border. adjuster of friendship, between the 2 countries. and this is what the 1st lady reportedly declared. i hope there won't be a fence for too long. that's true, hope was misplaced. this is what friendship park looks like today. the us side of the park is closed off with these 2 board of fences. how did this happen? in 1993 far more undocumented immigrants were registered in the san diego sector. that in any other area along the border there was a radical change in tone in how even average people talked about immigrants. our country is invaded by immigrants who are like cancer cells. brooklyn who,

a democrats, was the president at the time. he decided a 4 to 5 fence was the solution from the pacific ocean ride through friendship park . this is what the barriers looked like. they are a helicopter landing that's left over from the vietnam war. clinton launch the construction of 3 major friends projects around these urban areas and the 19 ninety's and california, arizona, and texas. one of the cornerstones of our fight against illegal immigration has been a get tough policy at our borders. along with offences came increased surveillance technology and more border patrol agents. clinton spencer's came at the same time as the north american free trade agreements between the us, canada, and mexico. the message was clear, more access for goods, less taxes for people. but the people kept coming any way

and because kids and focused on urban areas, immigrants tried crossing and more remote regions. this is where we start talking about the funnel effect. it funnel people to the most dangerous locations on us mexico border. and so people began going to a mountainous desert landscapes to cross the border and death rates along the border. skyrocketed in the 1990s. and they have been quite make sense that hasn't stopped one us president after another from spending billions of dollars on more barriers and more surveillance. as we've learned, bill clinton laid the groundwork for george w bush post 911 bush built around 800 kilometers,

resulting in the biggest amount of new fencing by any president. then barrack obama continue to build, adding around 200 kilometers by the way, some immigration experts called him fidget porter and cheese because he deported hundreds of thousands of people. and donald trump only built around 130 kilometers of new barriers. but he replaced a lot of the existing barriers along the border. joe biden contained on being different than from when he ran for president. i don't believe for a 2nd. they were the nation of bills, was a width of the steri over migration, back over in friendship part mexican artist, painted this mural race envy. it shows what they think us presidents embrace the same methods that the border, despite their different rhetoric. engine 2023. it was jo biden's turn to order

further work on the barrier here. so to our question of which president build all of this, the answer is kind of all of them in recent decades. both democrats and republicans the lot of times they just build to over each other's fences. so why is there this fixation on building board of fences? well, politicians can show that they are doing something about the issue is playing out at the border. they're using that for their political game. i think that politically right now, because people don't want to understand the complexity of the issue and they want an easy fix that everyone has to be hard on the border. but well, some sensors don't sophie issues which lead people to keep on migrating. we're stuck in a repetitive pattern of failure, where we make

a policy that doesn't quite work. so we build a fence or a wall and that doesn't really do anything either. so we go back and we try to pass some kind of law or, or make another policy and that doesn't really do anything. so we build a wall off democrats and republicans haven't been able to pass a major immigration reform since the eighty's. it's not like they haven't tried, but partisan politics and election campaigns keep getting in the way. the only thing both sides seem to agree on is building more barriers. that's why the story of the us mexico border barrier is not over. and whoever wins the next us presidential election, he or she will probably keep building it the

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