New border wall anti-climb spikes installed in San Diego

New anti-climb metal spikes have been added to the border wall in California in the latest bid to keep migrants from illegally entering the country.

The new apostrophe-shaped deterrants have been placed on top of the 30-foot high wall at Friendship Park on the border between San Diego and Tijuana, Mexico.

The curved metal spikes face toward the Mexican side of the border, providing an additional obstacle for migrants trying to scale the wall and vault into the US.

Construction is also underway to replace the 18-foot wall with 30-foot barriers at Friendship Park in San Diego, another measure to deter people from attempting to climb them and getting injured or dying.

“People are already falling all the time and are breaking their backs and legs,” warned John Fanestil, executive director of nonprofit organization Via International. “They’re fracturing their spines and many are dying from border wall falls — and that’s without these anti-climbing awnings they just added.”

The decision to raise the US-Mexico border wall to as high as 30 feet was signed in 2017 under the Trump administration. Since then, doctors in the San Diego area said they have seen a spike in spinal injuries from migrants who attempt to scale over the border.

The barriers stretch along the banks of the Tijuana River where it crosses into the US through a shallow concrete-laid canal, which masses of migrants have been using to swarm across the border in large groups.

Half a mile of fencing is also being erected along the river banks on the Mexican side, according to Border Report.

Doctors at the UC San Diego trauma center said they have treated at least 455 patients with serious injuries in 2023.

“As a neurosurgeon working in San Diego, I can attest that we are seeing not only more but also new types of neurological injuries, including traumatic brain and cerebrovascular injuries that will leave people unable to work and care for their families,” said Alexander Tenorio to the Los Angeles Times. The horrors we are seeing now are caused by the height of the wall.”

The new rooftop metal segments are a prototype and will be added at other parts of the border wall if it successfully deters more migrants, according to Border Report.

Migrant advocates complained about the security measures being installed at Friendship Park, which sits on federal land at the Southernmost point of San Diego and extends into the sea.

It was at one time known as a place where separated families could communicate between the metal segments.

“This is being tested out at Friendship Park, a park that’s meant to symbolize the unity between both countries, and people coming together,” said migrant advocate Pedro Rios. “It represents denial, represents exclusion and is pushing people away.”

Border Patrol have explained they have “developed an approach that meets the border security needs of the area while also addressing feedback from the community,” and pointed out the park can still be accessed by a monitored entryway within the wall structure.  

Fanestil said construction of the new 30-foot wall along Friendship Park is about 90% complete and the anti-climb spikes have been added in the last two weeks.

“The exterior of the wall also used to be see through, but it’s now solid,” Fanestil said.