“COUNTY PROFILE: El Paso County, Texas,” Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, ➝.
US Counties adjacent to the international boundary have significantly higher daily doses of UV exposure throughout the year than other counties even within the “Sun Belt,” ➝.
The studies use complex models to forecast current trends in stratospheric ozone depletion and repair. See Solar Ultraviolet radiation in a changing climate.
Craig E. Williamson, Richard G. Zepp, Robyn M. Lucas, Sasha Madronich, Amy T. Austin, Carlos L. Ballaré, Mary Norval et al., “Solar Ultraviolet Radiation in a Changing Climate,” Nature Climate Change 4, no. 6 (2014): 434–441.
“The South drew about 412,000 people from the Northeast, 356,000 from the Midwest, and 459,000 from the West. The region lost about 317,000 to the West and 276,000 to the Midwest.” Cities absorbing the influx include Los Angeles (Los Angeles, San Bernadino, Riverside, Orange Counties), Houston (Harris County), Phoenix (Maricopa County), Dallas (Dallas County), and San Diego (San Diego County). The El Paso/Ciudad Juarez metroplex like many border counties is drawing its population from a spatially diverse set of counties, including many at higher latitudes. Kristin Kerns and L. Slagan Locklear, “Three New Census Bureau Products Show Domestic Migration at Regional, State, and County Levels,” US Census Bureau, April 29, 2019, ➝.
Shasa Hu, Fangchao Ma, Fernando Collado-Mesa, et al., “UV Radiation, Latitude, and Melanoma in US Hispanics and Blacks,” JAMA Dermatology 140, no. 7 (2004): 819–824, ➝.
“Environmental Effects and Interactions of Stratospheric Ozone Depletion, UV Radiation, and Climate Change: 2018 Assessment Report,” United Nations Environment Programme Ozone Secretariat (2019), ➝.
Michael A. Celone, “Undocumented and Unprotected: Solutions for Protecting the Health of America’s Undocumented Mexican Migrant Workers,” Journal of Contemporary Health Law and Policy 29 no. 1 (2012): 117–151. Effects of exposure include skin damage, immune inhibition, and eye health deterioration. Especially UVB radiation is believed to be more damaging to the immune system than UVA, and is linked to increased risk of cataracts, “The known health effects of UV,” World Health Organization, ➝. UV initiates chemical reactions that contribute to production of smog / ozone / air pollution in urban environments, resulting in more hospitalizations in affected areas.
Shaw Drake and Rochelle Garza, “Re: Abusive Conditions in Border Patrol Detention Facilities in the Rio Grande Border Patrol Sector,” ACLU Texas, May 17, 2019, ➝.
John V. Kelley, “Management Alert - DHS Needs to Address Dangerous Overcrowding Among Single Adults at El Paso Del Norte Processing Center (Redacted),” Office of Inspector General, May 30, 2019, OIG-19-46, ➝.
Loren Elliot, “Migrants sleep on ground, rig awnings at Texas Border Patrol station,” Reuters, May 16, 2019, ➝.
“UN Migration Agency, USAID Build Protective Environments for Returnees to El Salvador,” International Organization for Migration, August 18, 2017, ➝.
“BORDER PATROL: Available Data on Interior Checkpoints Suggest Differences in Sector Performance,” US Government Accountability Office, GAO-05-435, July 22, 2005, ➝.
Canopies are routinely deployed at roadside and interstate checkpoints throughout the 100-mile border zone, covering areas for inspection of vehicles and passengers traveling through the region. Checkpoints without canopies are deemed deficient. See: GAO-05-435, ➝.
Canopy construction is especially common for land ports along the US/Mexico border, where they span over primary and secondary processing areas and other managerial spaces. One exaggerated example is in development at the most trafficked checkpoint in Falfurrias, a vast canopy covering a multi-lane highway with multiple primary and secondary inspection lanes. Sandra Sanchez, “Border Patrol’s most trafficked checkpoint gets new state-of-the-art station,” Border Report, September 5, 2019, ➝.
Pre-primary inspection spaces are not always covered with canopies, but may support agents with canines inspecting vehicles. Primary inspection lanes are often canopies covering enclosed, bullet- and blast-proof booths. Secondary inspection lanes are similary under canopies which then may work into enclosed, permanent facilities. Outbound lanes often consist of canopies collecting several inspection functions. “BORDER INFRASTRUCTURE: Actions Needed to Improve Information on Facilities and Capital Planning at Land Border Crossings,” US Government Accountability Office, GAO-19-534, July 11, 2019, ➝.
Ibid.
Office of Portfolio Management and Customer Engagement, “Land Port of Entry (LPOE) Space Assignment Policy,” GSA Public Buildings Service (November 2018), ➝.
Public Buildings Service, United States Border Station Design Guide (US General Services Administration, 1992, ➝.
Russel Brandom, “New Homeland Security system will bring facial recognition to land borders this summer,” The Verge, June 5, 2018, ➝.
J. Edward Moreno, “Facial comparison technology being tested at Anzalduas bridge,” The Monitor, August 31, 2018; US Customs and Border Protection, “CBP to Implement a Facial Comparison Technical Demonstration at Anzalduas International Bridge for Vehicle Travelers,” August 29, 2018, ➝.
Lynn Brezosky, “Facial recognition cameras may bring exit checks to U.S.-Mexico border,” San Antonio Express-News, November 1, 2018, ➝.
“Canopies go up at downtown port of entry,” Nogales International, July 9, 2013, ➝; MRM Construction Services, “I-19 Border Patrol Checkpoint,” ➝; Department of Homeland Security, “A Review of U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Procurement of Untrained Canines,” Office of Inspector General, OIG-08-46, (April 2008), ➝; Max Darrow, “Four canopies installed at Nogales Port of Entry,” KGUN 9, March 13, 2018, ➝.
Laredo 1 & 2 Ports of Entry, ➝.
Chuck Harvey, “$85M GSA Project Upgrades New Mexico Port of Entry,” Construction Equipment Guide, October 25, 2017, ➝.
Ersela Kripa and Stephen Mueller. “How architecture is aiding detention at the U.S.-Mexico Border,” The Architect’s Newspaper, July 30, 2018, ➝.
Edwin Delgado, “‘Nowhere to hold them’: exhausted migrants crowded under a bridge in Texas,” The Guardian, March 28, 2019, ➝.
Margaret Wilder et al., “Climate Change and U.S.-Mexico Border Communities.” In Assessment of Climate Change in the Southwest United States (Island Press-Center for Resource Economics, 2013).
“Effective Border Policy: Security, Responsibility And Human Rights at the U.S.-Mexico Border,” Border Network for Human Rights, November 2008, ➝.
Laurie Holman, “Shade and Seating at Presidio Port of Entry!,” change.org, 2016, ➝.
Matthew Rist, “CBP Responds to Petition for Shade at Border Crossing,” CBS 7, July 19, 2016, ➝.
In 2009, the Paso Del Norte International Bridge began renovations including pedestrian shade structures. Gregory Scruggs, “Obama’s Pledge Could Make It Easier to Walk Across U.S.-Mexico Border,” Next City, January 8, 2015, ➝.
See Sam Bloch, “Shade,” Places (2019), ➝.
“Environmental Effects and Interactions of Stratospheric Ozone Depletion, UV Radiation, and Climate Change,” ➝.
Wei Gao, George Janson and John Davis, “Ground-based monitoring of UV radiation,” SPIE, October 7, 2013, ➝.
Ibid.
Ibid.
While there is a UVMRP station in El Paso, its data is not included in UV maps published by the EPA.
Steven P. Venglar and Karen P. Fierro. “Best Practices for Accommodating Pedestrians at International Bridge Crossings,” Center for International Intelligent Transportation Research (September 2010), ➝.
George Thomas Kapelos and Mitchell Rolland Sutherland Patterson, “Health, Planning, Design, and Shade: A Critical Review,” Journal of Architectural and Planning Research 31, no. 2 (2014): 91–111.
Peter Gies and Christina Mackay, “Measurements of the Solar UVR Protection Provided by Shade Structures in New Zealand Primary Schools,” Photochemistry and Photobiology 80, no. 2 (2004): 334–339.
David J. Turnbull and Alfio V. Parisi, “Increasing the ultraviolet protection provided by shade structures,” Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology B: Biology 78, no. 1 (2005): 61–67.