California State Attorney General Edmund G. Brown, Jr., together with local, state and federal elected officials, has joined some 70 community-based organizations and over 130 community leaders in a joint letter to Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, calling for the restoration of routine public access to Friendship Park, the historic location overlooking the Pacific Ocean where for generations people have gathered with friends and family at the U.S.-Mexico border fence.
Please join us and sign this letter to Secretary Napolitano.
Dear Secretary Napolitano:
We are writing to request that you act immediately to restore routine public access to Friendship Park, the historic venue overlooking the Pacific Ocean where for generations people have met to visit with friends and family at the U.S.-Mexico border fence.
We recognize that both nations face legitimate security concerns at the border, and we understand that U.S. Border Patrol agents cannot tolerate the smuggling of contraband and attempts at illegal entry to the United States at Friendship Park.
At the same time, Friendship Park is a unique venue of great historical significance to both Mexico and the United States, and has served as the centerpiece of California%u2019s Border Field State Park since its inauguration by then-First Lady Pat Nixon in 1971. Our government should continue to embrace its regular public use to promote the kind of friendship on which the true security of both nations depends.
We are confident that your Department, by working in a spirit of genuine collaboration with community stakeholders from San Diego and Tijuana, can create a plan that will allow for Friendship Park to remain a safe location where the friendship between the peoples of the two nations is celebrated.
Specifically, we believe that security, safety and friendship can be ensured at Friendship Park through the following measures:
1) A careful allocation of staff which acknowledges that Friendship Park is a unique location warranting special accommodations;
2) Training in public relations, crowd control, Spanish language, cultural competency and constitutional rights for all staff who will be assigned to work the park;
3) Supervised access to the historic monument and the beach below during all daylight hours;
4) An appropriate ceremony at the earliest possible date to celebrate the park%u2019s re-dedication to the cause of international friendship.
We have been encouraged in recent weeks as President Obama and countless administration officials have spoken enthusiastically about a new era of collaboration between the United States and Mexico. We request that you act with great urgency to see that routine public access to Friendship Park is restored as soon as possible, and that the park is returned to its rightful place as a revered symbol of the unique friendship between the two nations.
