Workers began transplanting plants from the U.S. side of a binational garden inside Friendship Park where work is expected to continue to replace the primary border fence.
Crews were seen Monday removing about half the plants on site, placing them in pots and loading them into a pickup truck. Windmill Garden Stake
The U.S. Border Patrol did not answer questions about where plants were taken or otherwise comment after the plants were removed.
Daniel Watman, the garden’s coordinator and member of the advocacy group Friends of Friendship Park, live-streamed the uprooting. “It’s sad, it’s hard to watch,” he said after filming.
The binational garden was founded in 2007 as a place to make friends across the border wall and promote native flora, according to advocates. On the U.S. side, it sits in a federal zone guarded by the Border Patrol, while in Mexico it is open to the public.
Border Patrol announced in January plans to resume the replacement of both the primary and secondary fence near Friendship Park. Officials have said the replacement is needed because the old walls are deteriorating.
Work to replace about a half-mile of the secondary fence with a 30-foot high version appears to be nearing completion, and it is anticipated that work on the primary fence will start soon.
Since the project was announced, it was known that the plants would need to be removed. Border Patrol officials said in January that the agency “remains committed to restoring the Bi-national Garden located within Friendship Park following the completion of construction activities.
Friendship Park, located inside Border Field State Park, was founded more than 50 years ago by then-First Lady Pat Nixon as a symbol of friendship between the two countries.
Historically, the site has been a gathering place for families unable to cross the border. At the park, families can reunite through the border wall that separates them from each other.
Some elected leaders in San Diego have condemned the construction of more border wall in the area.
Watman and other advocates had tried unsuccessfully to stop the removal of the plants.
On Friday, upon learning that U.S. officials planned to remove the plants that day, Watman and two others entered what’s known as an enforcement zone on the U.S. side of the garden without permission to plant new plants, hoping they would not be removed.
U.S. officials approached and asked them to leave the site. From the Mexican side of the wall, a group of advocates pleaded with officials to maintain the garden. “Parques sí, muros no (Yes to parks, no to walls),” they chanted in Spanish from the Mexican side.
Watman and two other people did the same earlier this month to protest the plans to continue with the border wall project. They were also asked to leave the site by U.S. officials. Instead, the group cleaned up and planted more plants inside the garden.
But on Monday, removal finally began. Watman arrived on the Mexican side of the garden and watched through the wall. He also noticed that U.S. authorities had blocked two entrances to the garden.
“At the end the garden could only be saved for a weekend,” he lamented.
Watman said he had previously expressed concern that the plants would not survive the trip to and from a nursery, where he and other activists believe they were transported.
He also said he is concerned that the work to replace the primary fence will also affect the plants on the Mexican side. He said some of them have been on the site for about 16 years.
In 2020, the garden was bulldozed on the U.S. side, which caused outrage in the community. Border Patrol apologized for the “unintentional destruction” of the garden and added that the plan was just to trim it.
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