SANTA ANA COLLEGE el Don/eldonnews.org • MONDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2015
SPECIAL REPORT / PULL-OUT SECTION
Immigration is a hot issue in the presidential campaign. While
there are many proposed solutions, few recognize the
struggles of families divided by the border.
WAITING TO
STORY BY JOSE SERVIN
On an 85-degree Sunday afternoon, a
Spanish-speaking Irish priest presses his
body against the U.S.-Mexico border fence
with a wireless microphone in his hand.
His makeshift altar, composed of a wine
cup, a sacramental bread plate and pictures
of people praying in the desert, lies on a
dusty carpet around his feet.
“We leave our denominations at the door,”
said the Rev. Dermot Rodgers, who is also
an immigrant.
Quietly listening to Rodgers’ sermon
stands Enrique Morones, the founder of
Border Angels. He leans against a chainlink fence marking the farthest extremity
of the cement circle on which he stands.
Both men are flanked by families, huddled
against the fence, separated by a steel wall
from their loved ones on the other side.
This is Friendship Park.
Two sisters took the grueling trek from
San Francisco to see their parents, who
traveled from Guerrero to Tijuana. Out
of fear of getting too close to the border,
the sisters missed their freeway exit and
arrived after the park closed. The parents
paid for a hotel and waited for a week in
Tijuana, not surrendering their hope of
being able to see their daughters after 12
years. Separated by rusted steel, they were
held back by the fence, unable to touch.
The families seen at this park are the
casualties of a nation divided over immi-
gration since President Lyndon B. Johnson
signed the Immigration and Nationality
Act 50 years ago.
Near the Pacific Ocean, where welded
iron bars sink into sand and divide waves,
is Friendship Park, a place where families
cross countries to meet and hear Father
Dermot deliver Sunday mass to soothe
their aching hearts.
The park is between two fences. One is
made of rusted steel, similar in color to the
land it is driven into, and serves as the border between the U.S and Mexico. The other,
a silver behemoth with bars like teeth and
floodlights like eyes, is another boundary. It
marks the beginning of a no-man’s land.
When Johnson was in office, a single,
barbed-wire fence covered the area.
On weekends, there is a door in the silver
fence that opens between 10 a.m. and 2
p.m. This is the entrance to the park.
It is the only place along the entire
2,000-mile border where those who do not
possess the necessary documents to leave
and return to the United States are able to
see their families.
But getting there is arduous.
The park sits on federal land monitored
by U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents
and can be accessed through Border Field
State Park, which also houses an estuary
where the murky Tijuana River drains into
the Pacific Ocean. Please See BORDER, Page 14
SPECIAL REPORT 11