Border Conflict, Border Fences, And the "Tortilla Curtain" Incident of 1978-1979‪.‬

The current debate in the United States over proposals to build an impenetrable barrier along the U.S.-Mexico border for security reasons and to stop undocumented immigration is the latest chapter in a long history of many initiatives to erect border fences. Some of these initiatives actually led to the building of real fences while others never got off the drawing board. This article focuses the notorious "Tortilla Curtain" episode of 1978-1979 that resulted in the erection of new fences in El Paso, Texas, opposite Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, and in San Ysidro, California, opposite Tijuana, Baja California. Heated controversy broke out when the public learned of the design of the fences, which included barbed wire with sharp razors that would have the potential to maim climbers. The dispute over the proposed new barriers, which lasted several months, assumed international proportions when the Mexican government expressed outrage at the physical harm that would befall immigrants attempting to enter the United States.