The recent trip to the American Southwest provided many encounters with the US Border Patrol in Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. More an open wound or scar than border, the frontier between Mexico and the US remains a source of conflict and contention between the two nations.
During my stay at Cave Creek Ranch in Arizona, I spoke with campers just a mile or two from the Ranch who spoke of illegals coming into their camp the previous night begging for food.
Other birders spoke of encounters with AK-47 armed persons leading drug mules through the Chirichuas.
Tethered radar blimp scanning the desert from overhead. Despite the impressive panoply of technological wizardry, including helicopters, and surveillance jets, the border remains porous.