President Joe Biden’s visit to San Diego Monday drew small groups of protesters with divergent messages.
Two hoped to draw the president’s attention to issues that they believe he personally can and should step in to resolve. A third merely broadcast anger with him and their for his predecessor.
Waiting for Biden’s motorcade on one side of the street leading to Naval Base Point Loma, six of Friends of Friendship Park held signs condemning the istration’s current construction project to build a 30-foot wall along the historic stretch of land in the southwesternmost part of the U.S.-Mexico border.
One sign read, “Real friends don’t build 30 foot walls,” followed by a row of broken hearts.
Friendship Park has for decades been known as a meeting place for loved ones who can’t cross to see each other and is supposed to represent the relationship between Mexico and the United States. The collective Friends of Friendship Park has vocally opposed the wall construction since the Biden istration announced it last year.
“Getting President Biden’s attention is crucial for our cause to stop the 30-foot border walls at Friendship Park,” said Rev. Seth David Clark, the pastor of a border church that holds binational services at the park. “He is the only person who can put a stop to them.”
DHS has said that the current two layers of 18-foot border barrier in the park area need to be replaced. However, Friends of Friendship Park has argued that the current barriers could be repaired and that the replacements do not need to make them taller.
After community pushback, DHS said it would leave the wall closer to Mexico at its current height for a 60-foot stretch in the area of the park, but the second layer of barrier that blocks access to the park from the U.S. side unless a gate is opened will be 30 feet tall.
On the other side of the street, more than a dozen people wearing blue carried signs that read “Bring Ridge home,” referring to Lt. Ridge Hannemann Alkonis, 34, a Navy sailor who is currently serving a prison sentence in Japan. He lost consciousness while driving, and the resulting car accident killed two people, according to his mother Suzi Alkonis.
She and his father, who live in Dana Point, were among the demonstrators.
Alkonis, 61, said that while she is grateful that the president has promised to help her son, the process is slow. Her son has already spent eight months in prison, she said. There, he’s not allowed to make phone calls, and he’s only allowed to send seven letters a month, she said.
“We’re here to remind the president that we’re still here,” Alkonis said. “We’re still waiting.”
Meanwhile, about a dozen Trump ers set up at the entrance to Naval Air Station North Island in Coronado, where Biden first landed in Air Force One. One protester wore an antique military costume with a “MAGA” sash, while another held a sign that read “Trump or death by China.”
Earlier Monday, someone had hung a hand-drawn poster protesting the AUKUS partnership on a bridge over the southbound state Route 163.
Staff writer Deborah Sullivan Brennan contributed to this report.
