Scenes from Calexico: Farmworkers and life on the border

Activists led by the community group Calexico Needs Change have set up an encampment for farmworkers on a small piece of land alongside the U.S.-Mexico border wall. 

It offers a place to sleep during the week so the farmworkers can avoid challenging daily commutes from their homes in Mexico. Without the encampment, the workers would have to leave their homes as early as midnight so they don’t get stuck in long lines at the border later in the morning.

For some farmworkers who are experiencing homelessness, it is their home for now.

The conditions are rough. There’s no running water or electricity. Outside of the shadow of the border fence, there’s little shade.  

The community activists who established the encampment in January envision a space that can fill a variety of needs for farmworkers, but the future of the land remains uncertain.

The Calexico City Council recently voted to sell the property to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers without realizing the federal government was no longer able to purchase the land due to President Joe Biden’s proclamation halting border wall construction.