Members of Congress are invited to sign on to Rep. Juan Vargas's letter in support of saving Friendship Park!  The letter states, in part: "... any remediation projects at Friendship Park that would increase the wall height, affect public access, and diminish the original intent of this location is of great concern to us. We urge you to involve community stakeholders to generate a comprehensive and site-specific design that will enable Friendship Park to continue serving this binational region as it was intended."

Please use the form at the right to ask your representative to sign the letter (or thank them if they already have). On the next screen you can also read the entirety of Rep. Vargas's letter.

Thank you from the Friends of Friendship Park!

MORE ABOUT FRIENDSHIP PARK

Friendship Park is a location of great historical and cultural significance. The monument at its center was established to symbolize the “relations of peace and friendship” that were described in the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo as the foundation of relations between the United States and Mexico. In her historic 1971 visit to inaugurate the surrounding area as California’s Border Field State Park, then-First Lady Pat Nixon expressed the hope that someday this location would become “International Friendship Park.” The proposed action would represent an abandonment of these noble intentions.

Pat Nixon greeting people through the border Aug 18th, 1971 at inauguration of Border Field State Park as the first phase in creating "International Friendship Park."

Friendship Park is also of tremendous importance to our communities in both Mexico and the United States. For generations, people have been able to connect for friendship, family, and faith at this unique venue. The proposed action would further separate people in both nations from their friends and loved ones, including thousands belonging to transnational families for whom this is the only place they can see each other in the flesh. It would further undermine the purposes of the Binational Friendship Garden of Native Plants. It would impede binational gatherings such as the weekly gatherings of The Border Church and annual gatherings such as the Fandango Fronterizo and La Posada sin Fronteras. It is antithetical to the purpose of creating friendships between the people of both nations.

The Border Church 2016

Family meeting at the garden 2016

We understand that San Diego Border Patrol officials intend to consider questions of public access to Friendship Park once the new walls are built. But the experience of local leaders is that public access always falls to the bottom of Border Patrol priorities. Over the past fifteen years, access has been gradually and progressively restricted to the point that the Park has been entirely closed to the public in the United States since the fall of 2019, even before the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The construction of ominous and intimidating walls will further discourage the public from visiting this site, which we fear will only encourage San Diego Border Patrol officials to make permanent their standing ban on public access.

Please help us save Friendship at our border by encouraging members of Congress to sign on to the letter drawn up by US Congressman Juan Vargas representing the 51st district where our beloved park is located.