Households separated by the border, desperate to reunite with their family members at Friendship Park between San Diego and Tijuana must wait longer for the world to reopen.
The U.S. Border Patrol mentioned Thursday, that the park will stay closed till additional discover as a result of a part of its workforce has been allotted to “the care and processing of the inflow of undocumented migrants” getting into the nation.
“This has left the San Diego sector with a restricted variety of Border Patrol brokers to answer enforcement-related incidents in border areas. Moreover, this has negatively impacted our capability to carry out non-enforcement duties to incorporate opening Friendship Circle,” an company spokesman mentioned in a press release.
“Sadly, at the moment, we can’t reopen Friendship Circle till now we have adequate manpower to make sure it’s secure for everybody,” he added.
Border Discipline State Park, the place Friendship Park is positioned, just lately reopened for pedestrians, equestrians, and bicyclists after being closed for greater than a yr because of the pandemic. Friendship Park is throughout the Border Patrol’s enforcement zone.
In August, the binational park will have fun 50 years because it was based by then-first girl Pat Nixon as an emblem of friendship between the 2 nations.
For some households that is the one place the place they will meet, even when separated by a rusted fence that forestalls them from full contact. Some even journey from different states in Mexico and the U.S. to reunite with their family members.
On the U.S. aspect, the park could be open for a number of hours Saturdays and Sundays.
The location has additionally hosted simultaneous occasions on either side of the border, akin to non secular providers, yoga courses, concert events, Christmas posadas and even weddings.
Native advocates anticipated that Friendship Park would observe the state park’s reopening. The Border Patrol said in February that this was the plan.
Members of the Mates of Friendship Park Coalition mentioned they’ve acquired a number of calls from folks asking if they will go to the positioning once more.
Coalition member Daniel Watman mentioned the Border Patrol notified the group of its resolution Wednesday.
“We’re very pissed off,” mentioned Watman, one of many founders of the binational backyard contained in the park.
He lamented that those that are struggling essentially the most from these selections are the households who’ve been unable to be close to their family members.
“We see the significance of the park, and we would like it to be a precedence,” Watman added.
