Wall Facts

Date of construction: beginning in 1994

Length: 1,200 km

Garrison: 12,000 border patrol (18,000 when completed)

Communities concerned: Mexicans, Latin Americans and Americans

The border between the United States and Mexico, 3,200 km long, crosses an entire continent, from the Pacific Ocean on the Californian coast to the Gulf of Mexico in east Texas. The wall, built by the United States in 2006 along a portion of this border, doesn’t appear to exist at first sight, but it is there, made of recovered corrugated steel sheets, rusted by time. Three meters high, topped by electrified barbed wire, it is lined with a parapet walk overhung by radars, cameras, projectors, ground sensors, and supplemented by unmanned aircraft and the latest surveillance technologies.

-first generation wall 2006-

A tradition dating back 100 years Between 1830 and 1860, the new boundary between Mexico and the U.S. saw Mexico lose some two million square kilometers of territory. At the end of the 19th century, Mexican peasants began coming to offer their labour, first in large farms in California, then from the 1920s in the emerging U.S. industry. In 1965, the abolition of bilateral agreements prohibited the back-and-forth travel of Mexican seasonal workers. The influx of illegal migrants began to increase, raising the issue of clandestine immigration and its regulation. In 1994, as a free trade agreement had already been signed between the United States, Canada and Mexico, the United States decided to strengthen their border and stop illegal immigrants.

On 26 October 2006, U.S. President George W. Bush promulgated the Secure Fence Act, aimed at reinforcing surveillance of the border with Mexico and combating illegal immigration.