The Guatemala-Mexico Border Fence Is Fake News
Is there a wall along the Mexico-Guatemala border? Rumors made the rounds during the 2016 presidential campaign, during which “the wall” became a defining issue. Many voters believed that the United States should be entitled to its own border wall, since Mexico had its own down south.
But was that information accurate, or a crafty piece of fake news? We examine below.
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Is There a Wall Along the Mexico-Guatemala Border? – No
The urban legend of the Mexico-Guatemala border wall arose early during the 2016 U.S. presidential election campaign. A social media source ran erroneous stories stating that Mexico had built a contiguous, fortified wall on the Guatemala-Mexico border. Upon closer examination, the claim appears to be false.
This fake news came courtesy of a Facebook group named “Americans for Common Sense.” The post’s purpose was to demonstrate that it wasn’t racist for the U.S. to build a wall along its southern border. After all, claimed the page, Mexico had one also. The post was accompanied by a picture of a long fence, stretching as far as the eye could see.
The text superimposed on the picture said, “This is the gigantic wall that Mexico built on the Guatemalan border.. Hummmmm. Imagine That? I guess it is not racist for Mexico to build a wall to keep Guatemalans out..” (Source: “Facebook Post, Americans For Common Sense Facebook Page, August 26, 2015.)
The picture was one of several Facebook wall photos that this group posted as “evidence” to substantiate their claims. The problem is, the pictures were not Guatemala-Mexico border walls. Rather, they were a mixture of walls from other locations, including the Mexico-United States border, the Israel-Egypt border, and the Israeli West Bank barrier.
The pictures themselves should have been a “tell.” Almost all of the border shared between Mexico and Guatemala is actually lush rain forest, not arid desert. Most of the northern and central border regions edge onto National Parks, while the more southern border regions are flanked by productive agricultural farmland.
The security apparatus that Mexico employs on the Guatemala border is quite modest. It’s mainly low-tech wrought iron fencing, not the imposing fence pictured on Facebook.
It’s unclear why Mexico hasn’t built a more robust barrier along its southern flank. It could be a lack of need, money, logistics, or a combination of all three factors. But Mexico relies on smaller checkpoint-type gates to stem the flow of illegal crossings in high-density border areas.
Does Mexico Have a Wall on Its Southern Border? – No
Another piece of information confirming the phamton Guatemala-Mexico border wall comes courtesy of El Mañana. It’s one of the largest newspapers in the southern border state of Tamaulipas, Mexico. Amidst the raging controversy, they penned a piece in mid-2016 titled “Yes to the Border Wall … but in Mexico’s South.”
That title alone confirms everything we’re saying. But if there was any remaining doubt, El Mañana went on to say, “only problems are brought by these crossing points that are being used for the new invasion. The one use by Central American’s looking for a way into the United States.” (Source: “Mexican Newspaper: “Build a Trump-Style Wall with Central America,” Breitbart, July 25, 2017.)
So, according to El Mañana, either no border wall exists, or whatever barrier in place is so porous, illegal immigrants are flooding in, regardless.
Rather than deciding to go the border wall route, Mexico introduced Programa Frontera Sur in July 2014, a program that aimed to beef up the existing border checkpoints and enforcement of internal checkpoints in southern states. (Source: “Mexico’s Southern Border Plan: More Deportations and Widespread Human Rights Violations,” Washington Office on Latin America, March 19, 2017.)
It is thought that Programa Frontera Sur was introduced to stem the flow of downstream illegal immigration streaming into the United States—especially of unaccompanied minors—which had been surging into the United States in the early 2010s.
How high were the unaccompanied minor crossings in 2014? Incursions were so voluminous that, although crossings were expected to drop 40% in 2015, the total still would have represented the second-largest surge on record. (Source: “Illegal immigrant children surge across border at highest rate since last summer’s peak,” Washington Times, April 6, 2015.)
In more recent times, there are signs Mexico is working directly with the U.S. to further fortify their borders.
For example, Mexican news outlet La Politica Online reported in January 2017 that the Donald Trump administration was considering helping Mexico with their southern border security situation. The issue is regarded with such high importance, that it may end up being a key negotiating point in NAFTA renegotiation talks. (Source: “Mexico: U.S. May Help Boost Security for Guatemalan Border,” Stratfor Worldview, January 20, 2017.)
The initiative may be looked at as a face-saving maneuver on both sides. America receives its downstream security buffer from Central American illegal immigration (without having to deal with stiff political opposition at home). Mexico keeps its critical remittance and jobs pipeline intact by keeping the status quo alive.
The Trump administration is currently deciding on which U.S.-Mexico border wall prototypes to bid on. No final decisions have been made.
Either way, we can say with certainty that the current existence of a Guatemala-Mexico border wall is fake news.
Mexico-Guatemala Border Map
How long is the Mexico-Guatemala border? It runs approximately 540 miles. There is no formal, contiguous border fence. Rather, there’s a network of several small official crossings (10), with hundreds of unofficial crossings sprinkled in (370). In most cases, the unofficial crossings are nothing but a small cattle fence with a sign demarking a territorial shift. (Source: “Let’s Pay Some Attention to Mexico’s Southern Border and the OTMs,” Center For Immigration Studies, July 23, 2013.)
Mexico’s northeastern border is flanked by the nation state of Belize. As Belize has the lowest population density of any Central American country (387,879 people total, 2017 numbers), they are considered an afterthought in geo-security circles.
While managing a border length about one-seventh the size of the Guatemala-Mexico border, Belize only has one official border crossing. It’s even more porous than Mexico’s border, although much of it is covered by dense woodlands.
