Holy Week: Holy Thursday is celebrated in a border park in defiance of the United States authorities

Immigrant advocates challenged this Holy Thursday to the agents of the Border Patrol when entering and officiating a religious rite in the Friendship Parka place on the border of USA and Mexico which used to be a meeting place for migrants and has been closed for three years.

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The founders of the border church and the organization Binational Friendship Garden entered the federal zone without permission as part of a protest against the construction of a second wall in the park, a project initiated under the administration of the former president donald trump (2017-2021).

“We came to celebrate Mass on Holy Thursday with our friends from Mexico through the wall and to simultaneously plant on both sides of the wall a symbolic plant representing the friendship between our peoples.”the reverend told EFE John Fanestil of the border church.

In this sense, daniel wattmanspokesperson for Binational Friendship Gardensaid that he planted the white sage plant, “which represents us a lot because it is native to our ecosystem on both sides of the wall” frontier.

The arrival of both activists to the park caused a mobilization of at least a dozen vehicles of the Border Patrol.

Tensions have increased between that agency and the group of Friends of the Friendship Park since a few weeks ago when the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) authorized to continue the construction of a second wall in the last section that is precisely located in the park.

CBP builds a system of two parallel 9-meter-high (30-foot) walls to replace the one that now separates the border.

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“This is a park under state jurisdiction, it is a park of Californiaand we want to invite the governor Gavin Newsom to come to the border and see how we live with our friends on the Mexican side, so that they understand the importance of reopening the park”emphasized fanestil.

The religious departed and shared like hosts pieces of tortillas which he soaked in a goblet with a non-alcoholic drink.

On the Mexican side, more than a dozen parishioners of the church followed the mass, pronounced in English from Tijuana (Mexico), and in Spanish in Imperial Beach (California), in a symbolic demonstration that languages ​​are not a barrier either.

The head of the Border Patrol appeared at the place of the challenge in San Diego, Aaron Heitke. The officer told EFE that he did not plan to arrest either of the two activists, but complained that they arrived at the park.

“We have been very busy and a matter like this distracts us from our responsibilities”Heitke said.

commented that “There is a process by which they could have communicated.”

fanestil and Watmann they received a fine for entering federal territory without permission. None said if they will pay the infraction or if they will stop doing so as a next protest against the closure of the park.

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The same two activists were arrested in February 2009 in the vicinity of the park, for attempting to get to the park wall when the Patrol forbade it but they were not fined.

The binational park has been closed since the pandemic began, and the construction plan proposed by the Trump Administration aimed to close it completely.

He Friendship Park it was inaugurated in 1971 by the then first lady Pat Nixon as a token of friendship between the American and Mexican peoples.

In 1993 the first wall was built in the area, however, the park remained as a meeting point for the familieswho could not cross the border.

Since then it has been a traditional meeting point for families who for various reasons were prevented from crossing the border to meet in person.

The funds for the construction project of the new barriers were approved along with the construction plan of the border wall in 2018.

The border patrol closed the park in the context of the outbreak of the pandemic in March 2020.

Source: Elcomercio

jack

I am Jack Morton and I work in 24 News Recorder. I mostly cover world news and I have also authored 24 news recorder. I find this work highly interesting and it allows me to keep up with current events happening around the world.