And so I stood at the fence talking with a couple of representatives from Border Angels, a nonprofit organization “that advocates for human rights, humane immigration reform, and social justice with a special focus on issues related to the U.S.-Mexican border.” They also ventured into the desert to place water and supplies along migrant trails. They explained to me how best to get to that same point on the beach on the Mexican side and suggested I walk across the border at the new PedWest entry point a few miles away. We were interrupted when a voice behind me told me I needed to move away from the fence. A Border Patrol agent in a white Chevy Tahoe had driven up on the sand behind me from out of sight. I hadn’t even heard him. He told me I was standing on government property and that I had to move anywhere north of the fenced-off space.

As the photos show, those government property signs and the smaller fence didn’t extend down to the beach, so it was easy to infer it would be OK to wander there. There was only one section of wall left there dividing nations, falling off into the sea — beckoning me to proceed. In fact, the trio on horseback had done just that moments before. I’m guessing Border Patrol generally ignores people crossing at that point unless they linger. In my case, I stood as close as you can get to talk directly to people through the fence, so from the agent’s perspective, arguably, we could have been passing anything between us.

I somewhat stupidly asked the agent if I could take his photo. He said no. No surprise there. I was standing on government ground, after all. It had been worth an ask anyway. He drove off but parked a short distance away, presumably so he could monitor my activity.