Santa Cruz Film Festival 2009

OFFICIAL SELECTION: EARTHVISION ENVIRONMENTAL JURY COMPETITION

The Border Wall examines the attempt by the Department of Homeland Security under Secretary Michael Chertoff to erect 670 miles of wall along the 2000 mile southern border of the United States in the waning days of the Bush administration. Starting where the wall began as a double fence in San Diego in the 1990s the film traces its evolution, its moral and legal justifications, and its human and environmental impact.

The film takes us on a tour of the wall, introducing us to undocumented immigrants who have easily found alternate, but exceedingly dangerous, routes into the US as well as to the activists who argue that the wall is ineffective, destructive to wildlife, and offensive to our neighbors in Mexico. Despite almost no Federal support including Chertoff’s waiving of a number of environmental and civil rights regulations, those fighting against the construction of this latter-day Berlin Wall are undaunted. Surprisingly, they’ve garnered the support of a broad cross section of the community. The University of Texas at Brownsville, the City of Eagle Pass and even the US Government’s Fish & Wildlife Service actively stand in opposition to the wall primarily on environmental grounds. Several interviewees raise specific objections: a local historian argues the wall will destroy his community’s bicultural heritage, and farmers complain of the ill effects on their produce businesses. Even elected officials express irritation over the peremptory way that public and private land has been siezed without due legal process.

Supporters, including Republican Congresman Duncan Hunter of suburban El Cajon, California, claim that the wall saves lives citing a 50% drop in crime in San Diego County after it went up.

With Mexico’s recent elevation into our collective awareness due to the rash of drug-related violence, which is creeping across the border, the question is begged: is the United States’ punishing immigration policies (not to mention its failed drug control policies) contributing to this increase in hostility? To some, the answer is obvious. The Border Wall presents a local perspective on a project that many see as a simplistic, grossly expensive answer to a problem that deserves more sensitive consideration.