Border & Immigration

Photo Gallery: Re-Opening The Border At Boquillas

KPBS | By Lorne Matalon / Fronteras Desk

Published October 7, 2013 at 8:26 AM PDT

This story was published more than 11 years ago.

U.S Border Patrol agents in Texas cross the Rio Grande to meet their Mexican counterparts, a symbolic first crossing.

A view from the Mexican side; agents from both countries hold a final meeting moments before the crossing opens.

An armed unit of the Mexican Armed Forces guards the shoreline. In the distance you can see Big Bend National Park in Texas.

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Victor Valdez in the plaza at Boquillas, Mexico. For years his poignant singing echoed into the U.S. serenading visitors to the park.

A sight rarely seen on Mexican soil; the Mexican military commander and a U.S. Border Patrol agent in uniform.

An unmanned border station in West Texas has opened almost 11 years after the border was sealed following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

The border station is remotely operated, meaning citizens entering the U.S. will have their passports scanned and be interviewed by phone by Customs and Border Protection officers in El Paso, Texas. Before that, citizens of both countries walked across the Rio Grande and people took that back-and-forth for granted.

Fronteras Desk contributor Lorne Matalon accompanied four senior U.S. Border Patrol agents as they crossed the Rio Grande - without their weapons - to meet their Mexican counterparts Wednesday. The walk marked the official opening of the long-awaited border crossing linking Big Bend National Park in Texas and Boquillas, Mexico.

Photo Gallery: Re-Opening The Border At Boquillas

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