An esteemed journalist delivers a compelling on-the-ground account of the construction of President Trump’s border wall in San Diego—and the impact on the lives of local residents. In August of 2019, Donald Trump finished building his border wall—at least a portion of it. In San Diego, the Army Corps of engineers completed two years of construction on a 14-mile steel beamed barrier that extends eighteen-feet high and cost a staggering $147 million. As one border patrol agent told reporters visiting the site, “It was funded and approved and it was built under his administration. It is Trump’s wall.” 14 Miles is a definitive account of all the dramatic construction, showing readers what it feels like to stand on both sides of the border looking up at the imposing and controversial barrier. After the Department of Homeland Security announced an open call for wall prototypes in 2017, DW Gibson, an award-winning journalist and Southern California native, began visiting the construction site and watching as the prototype samples were erected. Gibson spent those two years closely observing the work and interviewing local residents to understand how it was impacting them. These include April McKee, a border patrol agent leading a recruiting program that trains teenagers to work as agents; Jeff Schwilk, a retired Marine who organizes pro-wall rallies as head of the group San Diegans for Secure Borders; Roque De La Fuente, an eccentric millionaire developer who uses the construction as a promotional opportunity; and Civile Ephedouard, a Haitian refugee who spent two years migrating through Central America to the United States and anxiously awaits the results of his asylum case. Fascinating, propulsive, and incredibly timely, 14 Miles is an important work that explains not only how the wall has reshaped our landscape and countless lives but also how its shadow looms over our very identity as a nation.
Reviews with the most likes.
Much like the eight separate border wall prototypes that were built (and promptly demolished), this book tells a lot of individual stories but doesn't quite fill in the contextual gaps between them. It's impossible not to be moved by its brief chapters that portray a variety of people caught up in the situation, like the volunteers who drop off water jugs in the desert for those who are trying to cross, or the young woman watching the wall prototypes go up from her shack just south of the border, knowing that she can't prove her U.S. citizenship because she can't obtain a valid birth certificate. And while Gibson doesn't try to hide his opinions about the immigration crisis, he portrays the individuals he interviews who are in favor of stronger border control with dignity and respect (other than the InfoWars reporter who tosses candy at children traveling with the infamous caravan and then declares they must not be hungry when they don't scramble to pick it up).
However, I wanted more historical and political background than Gibson provided, leaving me feeling like I had an incomplete picture - also kind of like the border wall. Each chapter felt like it could have been a New York Times Magazine article. Well-written and emotionally resonant, but if you're looking for a comprehensive look at the immigration issue, this isn't the book for you.
