Traveling West Texas

The Reality of the Mexican Border

The desert is a bigger obstacle than a wall would have been

It would be easy to wade across the Rio Grande, from Mexico into Texas, without any problem in the remote desert of Big Bend National Park.

There is a lot of border between the U.S. and Mexico, and there is a lot of remote wilderness that is largely desert and untamed. I never knew for sure just what the border was like until we visited it at Big Bend National Park. It’s even wilder and more remote than I had imagined. The other side of the border is also a national park and just as much desert.

I hiked a few trails that went down to the river, and could easily see across to the Mexican side of the river. It is the dry season and water levels are very low.

For centuries people that lived in these parts didn’t worry too much about borders. They did business together and helped each other at times. It’s only become more of an issue in recent years. But even at Big Bend National Park, there are border patrol agents around.

There are no towns of any size to speak of on either side of the border. This is a remote desert on both sides for many miles. Most of the border areas I saw were desert, but there were some ranches and some signs of life.

If someone did walk from a remote Mexican town, cross the Rio Grande, and make his or her way into the park and onward, that would be a super-human feat. That person would have to have someone pick them up, or they would have to walk as many as 100 more miles to a town of any size in the U.S.

If a person did that they should be given citizenship and a medal of some kind — not deported.

Once you crossed the river in either direction you would have at least 30 miles to go before you got to even a convenience store and 100 miles to a town that probably does not have 1000 people. Imagine doing that on foot in intense heat with no water available. It would probably be 300 miles in either direction to get to public transportation.

Trump talked about building a wall. I can’t think of anything that would be uglier than that in this wild area. A few hundred miles or more of dry desert is more of an obstacle than any wall could be.

But there is one thing that does happen.

At various spots, there are trinkets, walking sticks, and such, set up for sale. There is a can with a note saying to put your money into the can to support families on the other side of the border.

It is on the honor system, and some of them had what looked like a decent amount of cash in them. I saw several of these setups and at times they were in very remote areas along a trail near the border. I half expected someone to jump out of the bushes and give me a sales pitch.

No one ever did.

There are warnings posted to not do business with these people. Our government says it encourages illegal entry, and that we should not do so.

The trinkets looked like handmade crafts. I could not tell if they were real handmade art or if they were cheap Chinese knockoffs. I didn’t care really. I stuffed a few dollars into one of the cans and maybe that helped someone a little bit. I didn’t take any of the trinkets.

These people do sneak across the border and put up these things before daylight, and come back in the evening to collect whatever money was made and the stuff that did not sell.

If you are already there, crossing the border is not a big deal. Getting anywhere once you cross the border — in either direction — would be quite a feat.