Tale of the Binational Friendship Garden Part II

This is part two of a four part historical account of the Bi-national Friendship garden. The entire tale comes from my perspetive as the principal organizer of a program called Border encuentro which initiated the project as one of our "Common interest themes" to bring people together through the border fence in order to get to know each other and make friends.

The garden is located about one-hundred feet East of the historical bi-national Monument and Friendship Plaza at the Southwestern most point of the United States and Northwestern most point of Mexico and sits atop a Mesa overlooking the Pacific Ocean dissected by the international border between Mexico and the United States. A community project, the garden of native plants is united as one through the rusty metal fence in the spirit of bi-national friendship and collaboration. It’s main purposes are to create a space where people from both countries can get to know each other, make friends, and collaborate to contribute to the improvement of the region’s environment and native habitat across the US/Mexico border.

Part II - November 2008 to Dec 13th, 2009.

I developed a routine for tending to the garden in the summer of 2008 that lasted until January 09. The dividing fence made it necessary to weed, re-dig the water retention circles, and clean first on one side and then on the other. Watering of the whole garden was possible from either side and since it was more accessible on the Mexican side, I would arrive on the US side first and tend to the 12 ft by 3 ft area up to to the fence and then cross over to the Mexican side to get to the rest of the garden and water all the plants on both sides. Sometimes I had a hose and other times I had to throw buckets of water through the corrugated fence and aim just right to hit the plants 1-3 ft away on the other side.

Due to the expansion of the garden in November of 2008, the garden had become A LOT of work to maintain. Just the task of bringing buckets of water to the garden from near by on the Mexican side was exhausting. “¡Ándale , Daniel! ¡Te vas hacer más calillo!” [keep it up, Dan. You're gonna get buffed!] the parking attendant Benjamin from the Yogurt Place restaurant a block away would tell me as I walked by with two large buckets. I felt like my motivation/passion to work with the garden had no limits, but after a couple outings like this where I was working on the garden til 2am on some ocassions, I realized I couldn’t do it. I asked for help and some volunteers from Grupo Ecologista de Tijuana (GET) and Proyecto Fronterizo de Educación Ambiental (PFEA) stepped up again. Although we could have used even more help, together we managed to keep the garden alive.

In December of 2008, there was a plastic mesh fence installed on the US side around the area that surrounds the garden by Border Patrol, disallowing access to the garden, without any consultation with Border encuentro or any other entity involved in the garden effort. Border Patrol was not responsive to emails or phone calls. We were able to water both sides from the Mexican side, but weeding and cleaning on the US side was a problem since there was no way to do this through the fence from the Mexican side. I continued with my routine by resorting to getting permission directly from the field agent on duty at Friendship Park every week to two weeks to step over the meshing to tend to the plants. He/she nearly always said it was ok and on the one occasion they said it wasn’t, I didn’t and just did the best I could from the Mexican side knowing that the next agent on another day would probably give me permission. In the meantime, I continued to try to contact BP headquarters and Imperial Beach station to discuss the fate of the garden and ask for access to no avail. As time went on, I noticed the agents, although they continued to let me go in, were more and more hesitant about it. For the first time ever, agents seemed like they knew me and about the garden before I told them who I was and what I wanted to do or anything about the garden project. I didn’t know exactly what to attribute the extra amount of attention that was focused on this small patch of land that really was not in anyone’s way to. DHS had plans for the area to restrict all access between the two barriers along the entire Mesa and the beach. They were closing Friendship Park and that’s why the garden was on their radar. I knew this at the time as well, but Border Patrol, the only entity in charge at this point of the area, was unwilling to talk to me about making some type of agreement around the garden and I didn’t have the foresight or maybe the organizational competence to get more support to pressure them to do it. In fact, I’m not sure the idea even crossed my mind. I was partially in denial that they would actually go through with prohibiting access to, not only the garden, but the beach and the historic monument inside Friendship Circle, a cement plaza that unites people from both sides of the border through the rusty metal fence that was designated as Friendship Park by Patricia Nixon in 1971 and where families separated by immigration status had met for decades.

On the Mexican side, the area right next to the garden, there is a pedestrian walkway and an open area where, with signs of warmer weather, came events held next to the garden which resulted in the plants being trampled at times and trash was beginning to be a problem. We decided to build a picket fence and GET came up with the clever idea to get a hold of some wooden pallets and sawed the bottoms off of each in order to make an already made three foot wide by two feet tall section of the picket fence.

An interesting incident ocurred on the day of the one occasion that an agent actually told me I couldn’t step over the mesh to access the garden on the US side. I later crossed over the border and worked from the Mexican side and began, with a friend from PFEA to install the picket fence. When we started, I noticed the agent on the other side drive by and look at me through the fence and shake his head in disgust. About 10 min later, a Mexican police unit showed up and five heavily armed policemen got out and stood in a row about 5 ft away from my friend and I. I heard one of them say to another “everything’s fine here” in a wtf are we doing here? tone of voice. They told us that there was a report from Border Patrol of people digging holes to cross under the border fence. My friend and I looked at the 10 inch deep holes for the picket fence posts at our feet, then at each other, and then at the officers with blank looks on our faces. They told us, "we know you’re not doing anything, but we have to take you into the station." They eventually told us we’re doing good work and let us go. The picket fence had barely been started and was later expanded to cover a good deal of the garden by me and a couple volunteers from GET.

During the Spring of 2009, a group of scouts and middle school children took the day to paint the new picket fence around the area of the garden on the Mexican side.

I wanted to continue the picket fence perimeter through the border fence on the US side to accentuate the fact that it was one bi-national garden so a few days after the fence was started on the Mexican side, I arrived to Friendship park with a pick and a shovel and asked the agent on duty if I could step over the plastic meshing to tend to the garden and dig holes for fence posts. I fully expected him to say no. I stepped up to the window of his vehicle and thought a good start would be to explain the garden project. Before I got very far, he interrupted me, "I know about your garden", which was the clearest confirmation yet that there were briefings and discussions about the garden among border patrol. I asked if I could go in. "I don't know if that's a good idea." When I asked why not, he said "Well... Ok."

I hid my elated shock and asked "Would it be ok if I called a friend and asked him to throw some pallets over the fence so I can make a picket fence perimiter around the garden?" 


He was very insecure about the whole thing at this point but didn’t want to show it “Are you willing to let me inspect everything that comes over the fence as well as everything you have on your person.”


“Sure! No problem.” Trying my best to hide how little that seemed to ask.

“Ok, then. Go ahead.”

I called my friend who was storing the pallets a block away on the other side of the fence, he threw them over, and I went to work. I was working for about 20 min and got the first pallet in and the wholes dug for the next one. I ignored the Border Patrol supervisor I saw out of the corner of my eye as he drove by to talk with the agent on duty who had given me permission. I was worried they were going to shut me down and was curious what they were talking about as they continued to converse for a good 5-10 min. I kept working. Another vehicle drove up, Fish and Wildlife enforcement, Arnold Grassi and he joined the conversation for another few minutes. The three then troded over to me and Arnold asked “Dan, what are you doing here? You can’t be in here.” I told him that I was building a picket fence and that the agent ok’d it 20 min ago. Arnold slowly turned his head toward the agent with a raised eyebrow. The agent had nothing to say. Arnold looked back at me “Dan, you need to leave.”

“But I’m half way done. Can’t I just finish the picket fence?”

“Dan” now very angry. “You need to leave now or I’m going to arrest you.” He grabbed a cel. phone out of my hand which I was recording him with and closed it. “Whada think? I’m stupid?” He asked.

“I’m just trying to protect myself” I told him.

“Dan. Get out now!” As he made some moves forward as if ready to pull out the handcuffs.

I obeyed.

A few days later, I got a call from then Patrol chief in charge at Imperial Beach Station, Mike Corely, letting me know that I had only a couple days to remove the garden. This was the first time an agent in charge was willing to talk to me about the garden since it’s implementation almost two years prior. I explained to agent Corely the importance of the garden and that there was an original agreement with Border Patrol. I also expressed that I thought the garden could contribute to the over all security of the region in that it helps create trust and friendship which contribute to the security of the area. He expressed that a concern for him was that he didn't want his officers to have to swerve around the garden, that it may impede their duties. I offered, as a possible solution, to put a small picket fence around the garden (:-). He simply stated that wouldn't be possible and would not give any explanation. I offered to put in writing that, if necessary to complete their duties, Border Patrol may run over the plants. I knew that it would be highly unlikely that this small patch would get in the way of BP duties. He had the same response. Seeing that he wasn't really interested in working with me to find a solution that we'd both be happy with, I asked if I could talk with his superior. He very willing agreed to this and we decide to meet with his superior officer, then Assistant Chief for the San Diego Sector Agent Rodney Scott.

Despite it being clearly the understanding that the garden wouldn’t be removed until this meeting happened, Border Patrol removed it a few days later with no warning. The only saving grace was that there was a State Parks official who happened to be in the area and told Border Patrol he would replant them in another part of the park instead of just throwing them out on the side walk as Border Patrol intended. I was grateful for this because at least the purpose of contributing to the native habitat was preserved even if the other main purpose of bringing people together across the border in friendship and collaboration was taken away. The two Agents and I met at the end of January, 2009, and discussed the goals of border encuentro and Border patrol in general. Agent Scott’s words were: “We’ll see what we can do about the garden.” Despite the garden being uprooted, I was encouraged by the new willingness from Border Patrol to dialogue and hopeful that I would finally be able to work with them in order to accomplish our mission of friendship at the border. We discussed Border encuentro's plan of re-planting in Nov. of 2009 and the dialogue made it clearly hopeful that this was a reasonable goal. November, besides giving us ample time to come to an agreement, was also just before the rainy season, the best month to plant native plants, since when they are first planted they need a lot of water to get going. I made several attempts over the months leading up to the event to coordinate with Border Patrol about the garden.

During this time period, a large number of environmental, cultural, humanitarian, and civic organizations (including Border encuentro) formed a coalition called Friends of Friendship Park (FOFP) in order to stop the incoming wall that was to close off all access to the binational area of the Park. John Fanestil, an activist, Pastor, and director of San Diego Foundation for Change had decided he was going to serve communion every Sunday afternoon through the border fence until they physically stopped him from doing it. I’m grateful to John for his efforts in this and admire him as much as anyone I know. I looked at these communions and the Friendship Park Coalition as a necessary step in activism in order to be able to get back to the normal Border encuentro activities that I enjoyed so much and viewed as vital to the region's well being.

The binational communions culminated on Feb 21st in quite dramatic fashion when Border Patrol along with, Sherrifs, and San Diego Police made a militaristic stand that stopped John from serving communion to those waiting on the beach on the Mexican side.

If we were allowed to go up to the people waiting 100 ft away for communion, I had planned to then walk up the Mesa to join my counterparts on the Mexican side who were working on the garden along with some others who had said they would join me. John and I were both picked out of the crowd of 120 people and detained by officials and then let go after a 45 minute standoff on the beach between those who still wanted to serve communion and the human-enforcement wall.

This incident succeeded in getting more attention to Friendship Park in the media and the Friends of Friendship Park coalition sent a letter signed by several representatives including the California Attorney General asking the Department of Homeland Security to spare Friendship Park. By the end of April of 2009, however, the secondary barrier was in place. I was worried about how the garden would be re-instated on the US side now that there was no access whatsoever to the primary barrier and Border Patrol was completely unresponsive.

Border Patrol continued to be non-responsive throughout the year up until the beginning of November 2009. About three weeks before the planned bi-national re-planting/reviving of the garden event,I got a response from the new Assistant Patrol Chief in charge at Imperial Beach, Daniel Parks. He offered to meet with me in person at a coffee shop and talk about the garden. I commend him and am grateful for his efforts in that he told me that he could not give access to the area to replant or tend to the garden, but that he himself would do the planting. On an individual level, I was very impressed. As far as goals for access to the garden, this was not satisfactory to me, since it was obvious that this was an effort on one agent's part and had little to do with an actual agreement to work with the community on keeping up the garden. That said, it was more than I expected and I wasn't thinking as sharply as I would've liked due to sleep deprivation. I was caught off guard by this genuine effort from a border patrol agent to contribute to the friendship garden. “Would there be someone available to do maintenance on the garden on a regular basis?” was the best question I could come up with. He said that he would do it himself and we could continue to dialogue/coordinate about it. I honestly didn’t quite feel right about it, but he was able to convince me to agree to letting him run it by his boss. I also mentioned to him that efforts to regain access for the public to the garden in general would not stop. He said he understood.


The kind of bad feeling I was getting from the deal I had made was balanced by the true encouragement I was getting from motivation and enthusisasm from organizations in Tijuana that have adapted the garden as their own. During the months leading up to the event in November, I called a meeting of all the interested organizations and proposed the idea of aiming for twelve organizations, each of which would commit to adapting the garden for one month of the year reviving, weeding, and adding their own personal touches. The goal would be for each org to tend to the garden on two occasions every month throughout the entire year of 2010 to ensure the garden continued to flourish. The orgs formed a coalition and came up with the name "El Grupo de los doce". So far all the organizations have come through with their commitments and the garden has been maintained beautifully, a few new natives have been added and there have been decorations and informative signs installed. (Visit Facebook cause and blog for more info). This dedication was started with all twelve organizations and other members of the community working on the garden together on November 21st 2009.

As this Nov. 21st date got closer, I debated on whether to change my mind on the agreement with Agent Parks or not. I had mixed feelings, happy about the fact that there would actually be plants again on the US side to re-unite the garden while at the same time, the agreement did little toward the goal of access for the public and the terms I had proposed to Border Patrol just before Agent Parks contacted me. I decided that it’d be a lot better if Agent Parks were to do the planting the day of the event while people on the Mexican side were also planting so that the goal of people getting to know each other across barriers would be met, not in the way I had originally planned, but definitely across a significant barrier, an additional one between Mexicans and Border Patrol agents. It would be another chance to break down stereotypes and for people to get to know each other on an individual basis while collaborating to improve the region.

Agent Parks wanted to plant the plants the night before or early in the morning. He made it clear he didn’t want any fanfare and just wanted to plant the plants and get out. I managed to convince him to plant the morning of the event in hopes there would be some bi-national interaction. I was feeling like I was being too pushy with Agent Parks. I met with him at seven AM on the day of the event to give him eight native plants that were donated by a California Native Plant Society member who lives in San Diego. Agent Parks arrived at the garden about an hour before the planting event was scheduled to start with his ten year-old son and another agent. They cleared out a patch where the garden had been that was about half the size of the original garden and went to work for about an hour and, luckily, some of the people on the Mexican side had already arrived. Seisen Saunders, my roommate, director of the Sweet Zen Center, and a member of the Friends of Friendship Park Coalition and I were on the Mexican side with these two early collaborators from an enviro in Mexico. All seven of us worked together and got to know each other through the fence. We were able to talk about our families and our lives and put politics aside. Agent Parks' parting words were “What’s the last line from Casa Blanca?” We all paused for a second and he said "I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship". The rest of the day organizations that make “El Grupo de los doce” worked for hours to rehabilitate and expand the garden on the Mexican side.

I still felt like the goal of the garden being a place where people from both sides of the border meet and make friends wasn't being accomplished. I contemplated doing civil disobedience, when I was on the US side later that day separated from my friends working on the garden on the other side. I was inside the new caged area that now allowed closer access to the Friendship Monument. I would hop over the new railing and just go up to the garden on the US side and join them through the fence. I decided against it. Not entirely sure why and I felt like I left things unfinished.

A week after the planting event, I emailed Agent Parks to thank him again and to start coordinating on the upkeep as we had discussed. A few days later, I still hadn't gotten a response. I called and emailed several times over the following couple weeks with no response. Meanwhile, a couple of the plants that Agent Parks had planted that day had been uprooted by a storm and in general they needed to be tended to. I was becoming a bit more anxious about it all and I called the Imperial Beach station and this time asked for Patrol Chief in Charge Agent Zazueta instead of Agent Parks to see if there was anything that could be done as far accessing the plants. I asked if Agent Parks or anyone else could work with me and the answer was no and that they'll call me, don't call them. I felt, again, abandoned and betrayed by Border Patrol. I still had the general idea of civil disobedience in mind as an option and I now saw no other alternative than to try to access the plants myself to, if nothing else, make a statement about the importance of the garden, and hopefully actually reach them and be able to tend to them.

click here for part III of The Garden Tale