Wall charts tricky course on cross-border homes

For all practical purposes, the purple-and-white stucco shrine that Jose Arias built to celebrate his recovery from a heart attack and honour his family lies in Mexico.

In this file photo taken on November 20, 2018 A man peers through the United States-Mexico Border fence in San Ysidro, California. [Photo: VCG]

But, according to the US Border Patrol, Arias' structure encroaches on US soil, posing a dilemma for the Trump administration as it pursued a 147 million US dollar replacement of 14 miles of barrier stretching east from the Pacific Ocean: Should the shrine be saved or destroyed?

The US faces a similarly delicate dance as it charts a course to extend or replace barriers that blanket nearly one-third of the border.

The path of the San Diego replacement also cuts through a gated Tijuana subdivision of luxury homes with pink stripes on Spanish tile roofs to mark the official border.

It collides with old trees that sprout in Mexico and have roots reaching into the US.

The Rio Grande marks the border between Texas and Mexico, ensuring that any land barrier on the US side creates space between the wall and demarcation line established in bilateral treaties.

One treaty limits construction on the Rio Grande flood plain, trapping homes in a no man's land between a wall built in the 2000s and the river.

Sometimes, soil and rugged terrain prohibit walls right on the border.

In other areas, the Border Patrol wants space to access the Mexico-facing side for maintenance and repairs.

Rodney Scott, the Border Patrol's San Diego sector chief, initially thought the shrine was doomed but he sympathised with Arias as he learned more about it and a nearby shack belonging to Arias' daughter.

The first stretch of border wall was built in San Diego in the early 1990s, made of corrugated steel matting used by the military as temporary runways.

In 1994, the Border Patrol cracked down with more agents and orders not to cede an inch of ground to anyone crossing illegally.

In the mid-2000s, a steel-mesh fence formed a second barrier, much of it topped with coiled razor wire.

Scott described San Diego's transformation to President Donald Trump on live television when he toured border wall prototypes in March.

Trump repeatedly touts San Diego as evidence that walls work.

The Border Patrol decided the shrine could stay, although it needed a different base to avoid falling into new trenches.

Officials say the shrine extends up to one foot into the U.S.