In a short but notorious gap in the border wall just west of El Paso, right where the wall ends and a desert mountain rises, locally known as the "Anapra Gap", CIS spoke to a Mexican immigration officer guarding a 20-foot segment of it in a pickup truck, along with members of the Mexican national guard who had built fires at intervals up the mountainside so they could warm themselves against the dark desert cold. Speaking to CIS over a line that is invisible at this spot, the Mexican officer explained that nothing has changed on their side either; their orders are to prevent passage.
While he was explaining this, a squad of Mexican national guard carrying M-16 rifles filed down the mountain out of the dark with a group of six migrants they'd caught somewhere. The Mexicans lined them up against their side off the American border wall where it started a few feet away, took photos, then piled them into a vehicle to be dropped off somewhere else in Juarez.
Real change in how Border Patrol and the Mexicans do their jobs is likely coming in the weeks and months ahead, but frustration about how words in Washington translate into actual deeds is boiling in Juarez.
Read the report: Migrants in Mexico Are Getting Impatient