Reimagining the Border Wall: The Border Wall Transformation Project
For decades, sections of the U.S.–Mexico border wall have symbolised separation, conflict, and division. As portions of the original wall were removed and replaced, Friends of International Friendship Park saw an opportunity to ask a different question: What if these materials could tell a new story? Rather than allowing pieces of the original wall to […]
Bringing Friendship Park to the World: How the On the Road Program Expanded Our Reach
Not everyone has the opportunity to visit Friendship Park. Located at the westernmost point of the U.S.–Mexico border, the park is both geographically unique and, in recent years, increasingly difficult to access. But while physical barriers may limit who can experience the park in person, they do not limit the power of its story. That […]
The Resilience Satellite Garden: Growing While We Wait
Some gardens are created to grow food. Others are designed to beautify a space. The Resilience Satellite Community Garden was created to preserve something even more meaningful—hope. Located on the U.S. side of Friendship Park, the Resilience Satellite Garden represents the determination of a community that refused to let years of restricted access bring an […]
Growing Comunidad: Cultivating Community Across Borders
Community is at the heart of everything Friends of International Friendship Park does. While Friendship Park has long been recognized as a place where people from two nations come together, our Comunidad program demonstrates that the spirit of the park extends beyond its physical boundaries. Through environmental stewardship, volunteerism, education, and shared experiences, Comunidad brings […]
Militarization at Friendship Park Deepens Division at the Border
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
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 […]
KPBS: Part of Berlin Wall finds new home in Friendship Park, Tijuana
A 3-ton portion of the original Berlin Wall found a new permanent place in Tijuana, just a few feet away from the U.S.-Mexico border. The wall was installed Aug. 13 on the Mexican side of Friendship Park. Read or watch news report here.
SD UT: Negative narratives about the border are often false. We must embrace lived experience.
For border communities, it is common for opportunistic influencers to reduce our dynamic border region to unfair depictions of violent extremes or banal lived experiences. The colorful vibrancy of everyday human interactions is lost, and those rich stories of our shared humanity go untold. Read this thoughtful essay by Pedro Rios here.
San Diego Magazine: Border Militarization Threatens Binational Friendship Park
Construction is underway to replace the 18-foot border fence at Friendship Park—one of the few remaining places of connection and community along the increasingly militarized southern border – with two parallel, 30-foot steel walls. Read article here.
SD Union Tribune: Biden follows Trump’s border policies all the way to Friendship Park
President Joe Biden has come to embrace what was the visual centerpiece of Donald Trump’s border policies that Biden and other Democrats once demonized, laying bare the administration’s awkward gyrations in the face of political pressure. Read article here.
LA Times: A Trump-like border wall is about to be built — unless Biden stops it
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.
SoCal Matters: Border fence construction at Friendship Park does not reflect California values
The controversial construction of a taller border fence at Friendship Park at the California-Mexico border began this week. If completed, a once beautiful vista filled with joy, family and togetherness could become an ugly metaphor for U.S. immigration policy. Read or listen to essay by Bishop Minerva Carcaño and Dr. Robert K. Ross here.
LA Times podcast: A place of friendship at the border closes
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
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.” […]
Fox 5: Friendship Park Celebrates 50 Years
Clara Benitez reports on the anniversary for the binational park on the U.S.-Mexico border. View Video.
KPBS: Culture is a casualty of San Diego border wall rebuild
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
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.
45 Years in, the Border Wall at Friendship Park Has Changed But the Fellowship Hasn’t
Friendship Park, tucked away at the most southwestern point of the United States, is a place of mixed feelings. The beach on which it is situated is one of great natural beauty, bisected by the border fence. It is a place for people to meet and speak with loved ones through the international border, but […]