This is a story about the USA/Mexico border. A significant and complex place that is the subject of political debate. The border is 1954  miles long, versus say the UK which is 600 miles long ( so over three times longer). It separates four US states ( Arizona, New Mexico, California and Texas) from six Mexican states. It includes cities, beeches, mountains, desserts and of course the Rio Grande River, which forms a natural border for 1254 miles, or 64% of the birder. The area has been the subject of many conflicts and treaties over the years. Only 650 miles of the border have some kind of barrier. The Trump border wall is 458 miles long or 23% of the border. Trumps ‘Build the wall’ campaign started in 2016.This is a 30 ft high, steel bollard fence, topped with an anti climbing plate. The wall is see-through so security forces can monitor activity on the other side. 80% of the Trump investment was in replacing the existing wall, rather than building new sections which added up to 85 miles. The original goal was a 2000-mile wall , now targeted at 500 miles. It costs $25m per mile to build and has cost $25 billion so far. The total cost of all parts of the wall since the beginning is £30 billion , with costs continuing to rise. It cost $25 billion to maintain the current fence and wall and to ensure its secure. Those in favor of the wall say it improves national security, maintains law and order and is a form of economic protection. Those against, say its not effective ( people go around, climb over or tunnel underneath), and is far too costly. It also has an environmental impact, forces migrants to cross in riskier ways and places and it seizes private tribal land. In the last 50 years its estimated 50m people have been apprehended crossing , about 80% of the total who tried. For those willing to try multiple attempts, the success rate rises to 50%. Its thought 15,000 people have died crossing the border since 1988.The death rate is growing annually, as it gets more difficult to cross.

This is song about a man and his son who are attempting to cross the Mexico /USA border. I struggled with this song , so I’m not sure it's one of my best. I was trying to humanise the whole experience by portraying the issues through the eyes of a traveller. I died not feel I knew enough about the struggles of a South American immigrant  to represent them, so for some reason I turned it into a country song. I’m not sure it works very well, but you be the judge of that. That’s what happens sometimes with song writing !

The song starts, ‘Grabbed each other, the weakest went under. Wall don’t work at the frontier. At thirty-four, walked across to the USA. Drinking bad, just trying to get away. Nothing left, I want a new life, someone who cares’ So we are now clear, this is a desperate move to try and secure a better life, but he also thinks ‘the wall doesn’t work ‘ ! In 2023 2.5m people tried to cross the border. In Trumps first 8 months the number has dropped to 9,000 people, so he could argue the wall does work ( I think I wrote the song before Trump was elected !). In the song we then  learn that the man got caught and what life is like in a migrant shelter, ‘Attacked three times, in a migrant shelter. Man, some guy lost his temper. Those who have suffered, share their stories, they dont want to be here anymore.’ He has his poor sone with him ,’ Fleeing guns with a son aged six. Tried to cross the border but Goddam politics. So, he is clearly desperate for a new life. But there is worse to come, ‘Seven months, spent in a holding cell. Back to El Salvador and a living hell.’

He repeats his claim that the wall won't stop desperate people trying to find a new life. ‘Patrols, those folks ain ’t legal. The god dam wall won’t stop the people’ I suppose the reality is that the various Trump measures have worked. I guess all they can do is ‘

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