Author: web@sagon-phior.com

The Park on the Dragon’s Tail

A large blue cartoon dinosaur with sharp teeth and a sinister expression towers over a cityscape, with fields and greenery in the foreground.

This documentary tells the history of Friendship Park, a once flourishing bi-national park on the border of San Diego and Tijuana. We uncover the devastating history of the 30 foot walls that have been put up and all the families who have been deeply affected. Special thank you to Maria Teresa for providing the majority […]

Opinión: Reimaginemos las posibilidades de nuestra frontera compartida

A group of people stand near a metal border fence that extends into the ocean, with stone walls and a sandy beach in the foreground, and distant cityscape visible across the water.

Los residentes de San Diego continúan sufriendo por la inacción federal ante los flujos de aguas residuales transfronterizos sin precedentes que están devastando el acceso público a las playas de Imperial Beach y Coronado, y amenazan la salud de las comunidades del South Bay de San Diego. Pero hay más en juego. Durante años, la […]

Militarization at Friendship Park Deepens Division at the Border

A person stands facing a tall, rusty metal fence with photos and a cloth hanging on it. The photos depict people, possibly family or loved ones, and the person appears to be looking through the fence's gaps.

What used to be a place for connection and community with San Diego’s neighbors to the south is no longer a place of unity.  This piece discusses the impact of increased border wall construction on the park’s accessibility and the community’s response. View article here.

KPBS: New border wall destroys binational garden at Friendship Park

A person holds a colorful handmade sign decorated with paper flowers that reads, "Biden, Open Our Garden" at what appears to be a protest or rally.

Advocates continue to criticize the federal government’s decision to erect a new border wall along Friendship Park. The Friends of Friendship Park believe the new 30-foot border walls will “dramatically alter — for the worse — the experience of visitors” to the park, said John Fanestil, one of the group’s leaders. Read or watch news […]

Christian Science Monitor: US-Mexico border park – a long way from the ‘pinky kiss’

A person with long gray hair, wearing a yellow shirt and blue vest, stands with raised hands touching a tall, rusted metal fence. Another hand, wearing a gray sleeve, also reaches toward the fence.

Locals on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border have long known Friendship Park as an unofficial international meeting space. Family members without permission to cross once touched fingertips – to “pinky kiss” – through mesh. But the park isofficially closed on the U.S. side. Local activists are protesting construction of two new replacement fences, and […]

LA Times: A Trump-like border wall is about to be built — unless Biden stops it

A view of the beach with a lighthouse, a curved road, and a tall fence separating the sandy area from the ocean. The sky is mostly cloudy, and the waves gently lap the shore.

President Biden should call off construction crews gathering at the southernmost edge of California’s coastline to erect a border wall that epitomizes Trump’s dystopian vision. The planned double-layered, 30-foot-tall steel wall would create another heartbreak at a historic site for binational unity, Friendship Park. Read article here.

San Diego UT Editorial: Friendship Park Deserves More From Biden

White Gothic-style letters "U-T" on a solid black background.

Biden appears to still be trying to please everyone when it comes to his administration’s handling of plans inherited from Trump to build a new 30-foot border wall in Friendship Park — ruining a time-honored gathering spot for divided families, friends and others. Read UT editorial here.

Victory Won in the Struggle to Defend Historic Friendship Park

A man with long hair speaks into a microphone at an outdoor protest. Behind him, people hold banners and a yellow sign reading "No Trump-Biden Wall." U.S. flags and a modern building are visible in the background.

On Aug. 4, activists won a victory in the ongoing fight to defend Friendship Park on the California-Mexico border. After outrage and protests by local activists and concerned community members, U.S. Customs and Border Protection commissioner Chris Magnus ordered a halt to the construction of the double border wall that would effectively close the park. […]

The Guardian: Border wall that threatened historic Friendship park halted

Two women wearing hats, one in a pink coat and the other in a red coat with a flower on her hat, stand with their backs to the camera, looking through a rusty metal fence with vertical bars.

The Biden administration has agreed to pause plans for a double border wall that critics say would effectively destroy a 51-year-old oceanfront park that symbolizes friendship between the United States and Mexico. Chris Magnus, the US Customs and Border Protection commissioner, said he wanted to hear community concerns before settling on a wall design for […]

LA Times podcast: A place of friendship at the border closes

Black background with "THE TIMES" in white at the top. Centered below is a geometric, abstract shape in purple and orange. In the bottom left corner is the "LA Times" logo in white, curved around the edge.

Friendship Park on the U.S.-Mexico border has been a unique place for reunions for decades. But the Biden administration might shut it down forever. Los Angeles Times columnist Gustavo Arellano speaks about Friendship Park with San Diego UT immigration reporter Kate Morissey, who shares highlights of the reporting she has done over the years. Listen […]

The Guardian:‘Desecration’: historic border meeting point at risk

A group of people, including children, stand behind a metal fence, looking through the bars. A colorful mural is visible in the blurred background. The mood appears somber and contemplative.

For half a century, families living on both sides of the border have reunited at Friendship Park. Now 30ft walls threaten the experience. “It’s true, [the walls] must go. But not only the physical barriers, the barriers in our heart. If we can get rid of those, the physical ones will follow with no problem.” […]

Union Tribune/John Fanestil: Let’s not give up on Friendship Park

A barbed wire fence divides the developed Mexican side with gardeners from the undeveloped U.S. side at the Border International Park; flags and a monument stand near the fence. Photo taken March 19, 1976.

The Friends of Friendship Park invite people of good will to join us in not yet giving up the fight. We will meet this Thursday with decision-makers from the U.S. Border Patrol. We ask members of the community to gather at sunset the night before for a silent vigil outside Border Patrol headquarters in Chula […]

KPBS: Culture is a casualty of San Diego border wall rebuild

A group of people stands near a tall, rusted, and colorful border wall that stretches up a hill, with cloudy skies and palm trees visible in the background.

The Biden administration’s expansion of the U.S.-Mexico border wall threatens to destroy hundreds of murals along the Tijuana side of the border. Artists from all over the world have helped turn the border wall along Friendship Park into a colorful canvas. Read/watch news report here.

Too Long Here

A group of people, including men in suits and two women in dresses, walk away from a green helicopter marked "United States of America" on a concrete surface in an outdoor setting.

First Lady Pat Nixon inaugurates California’s Border Field State Park on August 18, 1971. After announcing the first phase of what she called “International Friendship Park,” the sitting First Lady of the United States declared, “I hope there won’t be a fence too long here.” Watch Emily Packer’s documentary movie here.

Lanzan proyecto para renovar parque binacional en la frontera San Diego-Tijuana

A man with glasses and a shaved head smiles while leaning on a desk in an office workspace, with computers, papers, and a desk lamp visible in the background.

Una coalición de organizaciones que desde hace una década ha luchado por restaurar el Parque de la Amistad en la frontera entre California y México lanzó este martes la campaña Construyan ese Parque, que busca motivar a funcionarios para que sean ellos quienes den nueva vida a ese espacio. Read full article at San Diego […]

A Prayer Beyond Borders

Several raised hands reach through or toward a tall fence painted with vertical blue and orange stripes. The hands appear to be greeting or connecting across the barrier.

The Border Church / La Iglesia Fronteriza convenes a celebration of binational communion at Friendship Park each Sunday. Beginning in 2018, the Muslim community of San Diego and Tijuana, similarly inspired to stand for justice in the borderlands, joined the Border Church to pray at the most militarized border in the world and to create […]

U.S. arrests religious leaders, activists at border protest

A line of police officers in riot gear blocks a crowd of protesters on a beach. Some protesters have their hands raised, while others hold signs. Media personnel film the scene. The ocean is visible in the background.

Kneeling in front of riot police, 32 religious leaders and activists were arrested at the U.S. border fence in San Diego on Monday during a protest to support the Central American migrant caravan. More than 400 demonstrators, many leaders of churches, mosques, synagogues and indigenous communities, sought a halt to detention and deportation of migrants […]

US arrests 32 at San Diego border demonstration

Two women are being escorted by police officers in tactical gear near a border fence. One woman has long white hair and wears a red jacket, while another wears glasses and a yellow scarf. The background is a sandy outdoor area.

U.S. authorities arrested 32 people at a demonstration Monday that was organized by a Quaker group on the border with Mexico, authorities said. Demonstrators were calling for an end to detaining and deporting immigrants and showing support for migrants in a caravan of Central American asylum seekers. A photographer for The Associated Press saw about […]

Stunning Live Performance at the U.S.-Mexico Border

A woman wearing sunglasses and a plaid shirt plays cymbals in front of a rusted border fence painted with names and colorful artwork under a blue sky.

On Saturday, the percussionist and conductor Steven Schick looked through the wire-mesh fence that separates San Diego, California, from Tijuana, Mexico, and said, “Con la música nunca se puede dividirnos”: “With music, we cannot be divided.” He was addressing a group of Mexican percussion players, who were about to participate in a singular cross-border performance […]

At one border park, separated immigrant families hug across a steel divide

A group of people gathers at a large metal border gate, flanked by uniformed officers and security, while media and photographers document the scene. One person in a purple shirt stands apart from the group, facing forward.

Gabriela Esparza has a standing date on most Saturdays to talk to her mother, on a schedule that never changes. She drives down Interstate 5 and turns off into a sprawling wildlife habitat bounded by the beach and Pacific Ocean and an 18-foot galvanized metal fence that stretches as far as she can see. Read […]