My trip to our border.

[billryan]

Down in Bisbee, Arizona for a few days and am about five miles from the border and the Port of Entry at Naco so I took a ride down to it.
To my surprise, there is a double fence, about fifteen feet tall. At the Port, there was no backup going into Mexico and a short wait to return. Pedestrians were passing through with little problem.
On the border, directly across from it is a dive bar called The Gay 90s. Every President since Reagan until the current one has stopped by the bar, and it is full of old photos from when US Buffalo Soldiers were posted there in 1916 to prevent Villa from raiding it. At the time, Naco was one of the most populated cities west of St Louis.
Directly across the border, Naco, Sonora was a huge rail center that Mexican rebels seized. Several pitched battles were fought within a mile or so of the border and many stray bullets and a few artillery shells struck the American side. By 1917, half the population had abandoned the area due to the danger.
In 1929, an even more bizarre incident happened. A Mexican General hired an Irish soldier of fortune who had some relationship with the U.S. Army Air Corp to bomb insurgents in Naco.
Evidently not aware there were two Nacos, he proceeded to fly over the Arizona city and dropped two homemade bombs. Luckily neither exploded, but he returned two days later and this time the bombs exploded, damaging several homes and a post office.
He learned his lesson and the next day set out to bomb Naco ,Sonora.
Lucky for him, for that day, a squadron of US fighter planes arrived to patrol the skies.
Unlucky for him, as spotters at the border alerted the Mexican Army and they shot down the plane before he dropped the bombs. The U.S. asked for him to be extradited for the federal crime of attempted destruction of Federal property( the post office) but once he was given over, he was allowed to leave the country.
Today, Naco is a sleepy hamlet whose main employer is the Border Patrol.