Mexicans have got used to the border wall

President Trump wants to build a $20 billion wall between Mexico and the United States, but a wall already separates the two nations, and for border residents, it is a permanent part of their landscape.

Mexican architect Carlos Torres built his lavish mansion a stone’s throw from the wall, using it as a rusted red ornament, a backdrop for his backyard, which he has studded with bits of border paraphernalia.

He calls his home “The First House in Northwest Mexico.” He built a viewing platform above the wall to give himself a sweeping vista of the scenery of the American Southwest.

Torres is not impressed with Trump’s plan for another wall.

“It is absurd if we already have a fence here, even if it is six, seven or 10 meters high, they will go under it. It happens in Tijuana,” Torres explained.

“I hear about the discovery of at least one or two tunnels per month so, even if they make it taller, they (migrants) will go underneath. It’s very easy making a hole there. It (wall) will not stop it (immigration).”

Pedro and Carmen Hernandez also live in the shadow of the rusted metal barrier, but they use it as an improvised clothesline.

A couple of miles east of Torres’s mansion, a former chef named Joaquin lives in a treehouse overlooking the wall.

Deported from the United States years ago, he has little money and few prospects—he picks recyclables out of the trash to earn money for food.

At night he lies on his mattress in the tree and looks out across the wall.

Perhaps the lesson here is, whether President Trump builds his $20 billion wall or not, residents of Mexico will adapt.