There are many people that wake up each day during the weekdays that cross the border from Mexico to the United States and many of these people are students. One elementary school in Calexico, California has many students that live in Mexicali, Mexico, which is across the border, and have student visas to attend Calexico Mission School. Many of these children are dropped off at the port of entry and then walk a quarter mile to school in the desert heat. These children have to wake up around 5 a.m.in order to get ready to go to school, while the children that live in the United States don’t have to wake up until around 7 a.m. because they live closer to the school. According to Hailey Branson-Potts,

But to many of the people [in these border towns], the fence that separates the two countries is neither fully a bulwark against invasion nor a foreboding stop sign to immigrants’ hopes. It is a mundane part of the environment that must be crossed every day to live, work and study.

Calexico and Mexicali are part of several “twin cities” that reside near the border that share social, family, and economic ties. According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, over 8 million private vehicles and 4.5 million pedestrians cross through the Calexico/Mexicali ports of entry into California annually. Mexicali is an industrial powerhouse in the region with a population of around 700,000 residents, while Calexico only has a population of about 40,000 residents. Imperial County Supervisors sent a letter to Congress in March stating that rather than spend money on Trump’s wall, the money would be better spent modernizing the aging port in Calexico.

This is an interesting thing to take into account when considering all of the changes that want to be made along the United States and Mexico border.

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