Back in June, News 21’s Channtal Fleischfresser visited California’s Border Field State Park, on the Mexican border near the Pacific Ocean. There, family and friends in the U.S. and Mexico meet to talk, kiss and exchange food across the border—there’s even a cross-border church. Though the U.S. Border Patrol tries to prevent crossings, the current fence has holes large enough for children to run through.

This scene will change in a few months, as the Department of Homeland Security constructs a new, high-security border wall. The wall will be accompanied by a mesh fence some distance away, that will create a “no-man’s land” several yards wide.

Locals on both sides of the fence are upset about the coming changes. Rep. Bob Filner (D-Calif.) told the New York Times,

It’s harmful to the kind of family culture we have at the border… We have a friendly country at the border. We have family ties across the border. It is one place, certainly in San Diego, where we talk about friendship at the border.

Border patrol agents say the park is the frequent site of smuggling and illegal crossings, making the improved security a necessity. But this part of the border shows just how connected our two countries are, legally or illegally.

(Wikipedia photo)