Mayor Gloria: Reopen Friendship Park, Lift Limits on Crossing Mexico Border

Standing about 100 feet from her family, Francy Carbajal waved, blew kisses and shouted, “I love you.” She had not seen her mother, brother and other relatives in 13 years.

“I just want to see my family and touch them, kiss them,” Carbajal of Los Angeles said Sunday as she looked at her kin standing on the Mexican side of the border at Playas de Tijuana.

Carbajal heard about Sunday’s celebration of the 50th anniversary of Friendship Park, part of Border Field State Park. Seven members of her family gathered to wave to her, separated by the bollard-style border fence near the beach.

A group of people — including city and state officials, members of Friends of Friendship Park and interested visitors — were reminded of the 1971 dedication of the park by former First Lady Pat Nixon and her words: “I hope there won’t be a fence too long here.”

With loudspeakers sharing translated remarks, and music from the Mexican side, speakers on both sides of the border talked about the importance of preserving the intention of the park as a place of friendship.

Since March 2020, Friendship Park has been closed — with the pandemic said to be the reason. The park had been open weekends for four hours each day to allow people to greet their loved ones on each side of the border. Friendship Park is between the primary fence and a secondary one.

San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria told the crowd: “Standing here today, there is no indication of when the border restrictions will be lifted and when the visiting hours will resume. As mayor of San Diego, I want to say that that is wrong, and the federal government must act to fix it.”

He continued: “I have and will continue to advocate to officials in Washington to reopen the border, reunite families and support the small businesses that rely on cross border commerce.”

After the event, Gloria spoke about two obstacles to open the park and resume cross border travel to pre-pandemic levels: COVID-19 and pollution that closes the partly paved road to the park.

The mayor expressed frustration with Washington — the Department of Homeland Security — on the lack of specific guidelines to lift the restrictions.

While vaccination rates in Tijuana and the San Diego area now are nearly equal, he said, he he finds it difficult to explain to small business owners dependent of cross border sales why people can fly across the border but not drive or walk.

UC San Diego Healthcare has been hosting a vaccination supercenter at the San Ysidro Port of Entry where Tijuana workers entered the United States just long enough to get a shot, the mayor said, in addition to the federal government sending millions of doses into the border city. 

Gloria told Times of San Diego:

There is not a metric. What level of vaccination do we need on the U.S. side and the Mexican in order for these restrictions to be lifted? What sort of infection rates do we have to hit?  The stated purpose is the pandemic. When I see vaccination rates on both sides that are relatively similar, then we ask what is the challenge? What specifically we have to do to change it? 

If we can’t get the restrictions lifted, at least tell me how we can get there. Allow me to do the work of reducing infections, boosting vaccinations, so that we can reopen it. If that is not the reason why, then tell me what the other reason is, and allow me to work on that.  As a mayor, you have to be practical, and as a practical matter, my economy here in San Diego cannot be completely reopened until this situation is resolved.

Regarding the road passage problems because of sewage from Tijuana, the mayor said a year-old study has resulted in a $600 million infrastructure proposal, half of which will be paid by the U.S. Mexico Trade Agreement included $300 million for border infrastructure to address cross border flows in the Tijuana River Valley.

Border-crossing restrictions now last until at least Sept. 21, he said, but he hopes they will not be extended.

Imperial Beach Mayor Serge Dedina told the gathering of several dozen people he would like to see the park opened seven days a week, 365 days a year.

In a statement issued Aug. 20, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said the agency couldn’t adequately oversee the park because of the number of immigrant crossings.

 “At this time, there are no plans to reopen Friendship Circle until it is operationally feasible, and we can do it safely and securely,” a Border Patrol spokesman told The San Diego Union-Tribune.

Enrique Morones, founder and director of human-rights advocate Gente Unida, didn’t attend but was asked for comment.

“Having been to Friendship Park more than most, this is no time for celebration as the wall of shame has led to more than 12,000 deaths including several this very year at Friendship Park area,” he said via email.

“I personally led the efforts to open the Door of Hope six times, led 10 marcha migrantes, had multiple concerts, vigils, paintings, Masses, yoga and soccer clinics all to bring awareness of the many deaths and the wall of shame. No more walls, no more deaths, not here or in Afghanistan.”

Assemblymembers Lorena González, Akilah Weber and Chris Ward attended. County Supervisor Nathan Fletcher and Carlos González Gutiérrez, consul general of Mexico in San Diego,  also were present.

Adriana Jasso of the American Friends Service Committee said before the event: “This is a space that for many, many decades and many, many generations was a space dedicated to families coming together, sharing from baptisms to weddings throughout the years, and now we are facing a situation where there is no access for families to come together.”

Jasso called on the Border Patrol to reopen the gate and allow families to come together. 

“We understand that although there may be some concerns of safety, typically these families know that they are coming to see their loved ones and it is not likely that they would do anything that would put that at risk,” she said.

Because the park is outdoors, people would not be at added risk of virus infection, she added.

The event included the presentation of a vision of an 80-acre binational park that includes a pedestrian border crossing with no fences, a boardwalk and pier, according to architect James Brown.

Homeland Security knows how to do passive surveillance and has been doing it for decades, Brown said. He added that an underground barrier could be lifted for emergencies declared by either government.

Consul General Gutiérrez said: “I’m confident that one day we will be able to freely take a walk in this beautifully envisioned space. Friendship Park has been a place of union, of gathering of families and friends, not a place of division and separation. Let’s dream, my friends, and let’s act together on this.”

The Rev. John Fanestil — executive director of Via International — said Friends of Friendship Park will continue to show a presence at the park.

“Border Patrol says nobody goes to the park,” Fanestil said, noting that by closing the park, it discourages people from coming and that re-enforces the notion that the park is not needed. 

He said the Border Patrol had counted 2,300 family reunions over a year’s time, equivalent to 40 or 50 people there during the limited weekend hours before the pandemic.

“If this park were truly an accessible park, that number would explode because there are thousands of families that depend on this location or would use this location to be reunited with love ones.”