NOGALES, Ariz. — The country has been fighting over building a wall along the U.S. Mexico border for years. Whether it’s the President, members of Congress or voters, almost everyone has an opinion on what needs to happen at the border.
Jim
Jim Chilton is a fifth generation Arizona rancher. A portion of his ranch borders the U.S.-- Mexico border. A border that’s marked by a four-strand barbed wire cattle fence.
“I've been saying this for 10 years, and I was so happy when Trump came down and said we need a wall,” Chilton said. “We need to stop the druggers bringing drugs into the United States. This is a drug corridor. This is not a people corridor.”
Chilton said he always carries guns while on his property, he has one next to his bed.
He said the security cameras he installed on his property have captured many instances of drug traffickers coming through his ranch.
“I think it's immoral to let the drug packers come across my land. I think it's immoral for them to be poisoning our country,” Chilton said. “I think the only moral thing to do is to have a wall and secure our border. It's a humanitarian crisis in my opinion.”
Arturo
Residents of Nogales, AZ have had a wall separate them from their Nogales, Sonora neighbors for about 30 years. Nogales is about 54 miles from Chilton’s ranch.
Can't see the video? You can watch the full episode on Facebook Watch.The town’s Mayor Arturo Garino grew up in Nogales. As a boy, he remembers playing along the border and often unknowingly in Mexico, when there was no wall. He also recalls law enforcement finding tunnels dug under the wall to circumvent it.
“The part of the wall itself has been just a barrier -- a barrier that identifies one city with the other,” Garino said. “We're a city of 400,000 people divided by a fence. If you go East and West of Nogales there won't be any wall anymore. There wouldn't even be any fence anymore. So, why jump the wall here when you can actually walk around it?”
“Barricades and fences and walls might slow things down, but it's not going to stop it. You're going to have to do something else,” he added. “It would be more important if he [President Donald Trump] used that money and gave it to Homeland Security, then they know exactly what to do with it instead of him saying we need a wall.”
Chilton and Garino meet to discuss the border wall and help local children with a wall-themed art project.
Can't see the video? You can watch the full episode on Facebook Watch.
An Imperfect Union brings together two people on opposite sides of an issue to work on a project in their community. Watch full episodes on Facebook Watch every Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET.