The Trump administration took another step this spring toward its campaign promise to keep undocumented immigrants out of the US.
In early May, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said Department of Homeland Security officials would begin a new "zero-tolerance" immigration policy: Everyone who attempts to cross the border — even those seeking asylum — are now being prosecuted.
The policy seems to be doing exactly what it was designed to do. Homeland Security figures reveal that, between April 19 through May 31, border officials separated 1,995 children from 1,940 adults, according to a report from the AP's Colleen Long published Friday.
Even before the Trump administration enacted this policy, migrant families often needed to separate, largely because crossing the US-Mexico border undocumented was always dangerous.
Steel fencing with razor wire, sensors, and surveillance cameras line most of the nearly 2,000-mile US-Mexico border today. Back in 1971, the US fundamentally changed a section of the barrier: The Nixon administration built Friendship Park, the only federally designated bi-national meeting place along the US southern border.
Until 1994, the park between San Diego and Tijuana did not include any fencing. Anyone could spend time there during the day, under the monitor of US Border Patrol. But border security tightened over time, and today families can barely touch fingertips through Friendship Park's thick steel fence.
Friends of Friendship Park, a local community organization formed in 2006, is now attempting to work with the San Diego Border Patrol to allow unrestricted access to the park again.
Take a look below:
SEE ALSO: 26 photos that show the US-Mexico border's evolution over 100 years
DON'T MISS: A journey along the entire 1,933-mile US-Mexico border shows the monumental task of securing it
On August 18, 1971, first lady Pat Nixon inaugurated Friendship Park (located west of San Ysidro, California) and declared it a national monument.
Source: NBC News
"May there never be a wall between these two great nations," the first lady said. "Only friendship."
Source: The Washington Post
Over 100 years prior, in 1848, the US built a pyramid-shaped statue on the San Diego beach to mark the end of the Mexican-American War. Today, there are 276 such monuments to the war along the border; the one in Friendship Park was the first.
Source: The Washington Post
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