The Border: Journalist Treks Along Entire U.S.-Mexican Border

Journalist Treks Along Entire U.S.-Mexican Border : NPR: "The U.S.-Mexican border is 1,933 miles long. It is a tough land full of deserts and mountains. And it can be a dangerous area populated with gangsters and smugglers. It is also an area that millions of people cross every year to illegally reach the U.S. Luke Dittrich is a contributing editor for Esquire and is walking the entire border for a year-long series for the magazine. Robert Siegel speaks with Dittrich about the first part of the series that appeared in the May issue of Esquire....

Dittrich: "...what a challenge it really is to seal off this stretch of 1,900 miles, especially when there's - you know, there is just this kind of endless pressure pushing people north.

It's kind of a consummately rational decision to cross the border, like it or not, because as soon as they do, their earning potential increases six-fold. If you happen to bring, you know, some cocaine with you, its value doubles as soon as you cross the line. I mean, there are just these pressures. So it's a remarkable sort of feat that we are attempting at this point to seal off that, you know, vast and largely empty stretch."

Here is the link to Luke Dittrich's first Esquire article on walking the full border.

Mexican Border - Walking the Mexico U.S. Border - Esquire: "There is only one way to understand the 1,933-mile line that divides our country from Mexico. Start at the beach and walk east until you hit the Gulf."