He allowed us a closer look at the border fence from private property atop a small hill where a towering cross overlooked the vast valley dotted with distant ranches. It appeared merely symbolic with Normandy-style vehicle obstacles and a chain-link fence several feet high extending for miles in each direction, all with gaping holes beneath. (At least it was keeping the cattle where they belonged.)

There are no easy answers to the challenges facing those living on either side of the border, which lead many to take desperate measures to cross in remote valleys like this one in search of a better life. And these challenges will become more dire with growing disparities in wealth and an acceleration of global warming, resulting in greater migration. With that in mind, it’s clear that this nearly 2,000-mile manmade barrier is at best a temporary solution, or band-aid, to natural human migration.

Let us hope that this is the case, and one day we will develop solutions other than erecting walls and fences in remote valleys in a xenophobic reaction akin to the Great Wall of China. Instead, we must address the root of the problem by developing foreign policies designed to heal the harm done by past U.S. foreign policy, which contributed greatly to the border crisis we now face.