Between President Trump’s Border Wall And The Rio Grande Lies A ‘No Man’s Land’

A visit to the now-defunct Fort Brown Memorial Golf Course in Brownsville, Texas, is a cautionary tale of how Trump’s border wall can create dead zones. The clubhouse is shuttered, par signs are fading, and the once-manicured greens are fields of weeds.

In 2008, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, working with the University of Texas at Brownsville, built a security fence on the southern edge of the campus that effectively walled off the popular golf course from the rest of the city.Golfers stopped coming, and the course, which was operated by the university, eventually went bankrupt.

“What used to be a very active place, very friendly place, for students and for our golf team and for winter Texans has become a deserted, sad, desolate no man’s land,” says Juliet Garcia, the former university president, who fiercely fought the border wall. She stands in the empty parking lot, littered with trash and palm fronds.

“None of us come over here,” Garcia says, looking around sadly. “You don’t feel protected in any part of the land that is south of the wall.”

Image Credits: Verónica G. Cárdenas for NPR