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TEXT 3

Before the wall: life along the U.S. - Mexico border

President´s Trump executive order to begin the construction of a wall between the United States and Mexico has left many wondering what it will mean for them and the future. For nearly 700 miles along the American border with Mexico, a wall already exists.

It passes through the silt deserts of Sonora, where cacti grow like organ pipes. Farther east, heavy steel X-frames cut through the flat miles of sun-bleached grass like battlefield markers. In Texas, the red-tinged beams that make up parts of the border fence are cold, hard and rough to the touch. In Tijuana, two fences – one old, the other more recent – plunge all the way into the ocean, where waves corrode the stanchioned metal.

The border spans 1,900 miles across four states – California, New Mexico, Arizona and Texas. Where a fence already stands, the surrounding dirt and grass tell the stories of those who try to cross it, those who patrol it and those who live next to it.

There are old cell phones between the beams. Wind-torn plastic bags with toothpaste and toothbrushes inside. Discarded clothing. Scattered sunflower seeds, spit out by Border Patrol agents sitting in their vehicles as they watch, and watch, and watch.

About 40 miles past Ciudad Juárez, the wall of metal mesh abruptly ends, like a half-finished thought. The remaining border is marked by the Rio Grande. But hundreds of miles in rural Texas, including Big Bend National Park, are unfenced and lack any man-made barriers or walls whatsoever.

by Azam Ahmed, Manny Fernandez and Paulina Villegas. Avaiable at: www.nytimes.com. (accessed on March 27th, 2017)

Answer the question and, according to Text 3.