I met Sgt. Ron Martin of the El Paso police department early in the morning, and was about to climb into his car when I found my way blocked by an assault rifle, propped up against the backseat like a faithful dog awaiting its master. A thorny issue of etiquette presented itself: Do I push it out the way? But what if it goes off and blows my brains out?
“Go in the other side,” said Sgt Ron.
Sgt. Ron was taking me on a tour of the El Paso stretch of the controversial fence built to block illegal entry into the U.S. by Mexicans fleeing their impoverished, super-corrupt homeland. You used to hear a lot about this fence, but nowadays nobody seems to care, bar a minority of hardcore pro- and anti- activists. I was surprised to see some apartments standing right up against it. I hoped they were getting a good deal on the rent.
“The residents call day and night,” said Sgt. Ron. “…about people climbing the fence, or digging under it. We have to catch them before they enter the city – after that they’re impossible to find.”
Read the rest here [1]
- Author Bio [2]
- Latest Posts [3]
Daniel Kalder [4]
Latest posts by Daniel Kalder (Posts [5])
- Book Review: Retroworld (plus, why I hate Star Trek) [6] - April 3, 2014
- A very expensive fungus [7] - October 16, 2013
- The secret rituals of history’s most creative minds [8] - October 9, 2013
- Apparently we are all getting very old [9] - October 3, 2013
- Vasily Grossman: from Stalingrad to toilet trouble [10] - August 28, 2013