14 Miles

De: DW Gibson

Narrado por: Ramón de Ocampo

An esteemed journalist delivers a compelling on-the-ground account of the construction of President Trump’s border wall in San Diego—and the impact on the lives of local residents.

In August of 2019, Donald Trump finished building his border wall—at least a portion of it. In San Diego, the Army Corps of engineers completed two years of construction on a 14-mile steel beamed barrier that extends eighteen-feet high and cost a staggering $147 million. As one border patrol agent told reporters visiting the site, “It was funded and approved and it was built under his administration. It is Trump’s wall.” 14 Miles is a definitive account of all the dramatic construction, showing readers what it feels like to stand on both sides of the border looking up at the imposing and controversial barrier.

After the Department of Homeland Security announced an open call for wall prototypes in 2017, DW Gibson, an award-winning journalist and Southern California native, began visiting the construction site and watching as the prototype samples were erected. Gibson spent those two years closely observing the work and interviewing local residents to understand how it was impacting them. These include April McKee, a border patrol agent leading a recruiting program that trains teenagers to work as agents; Jeff Schwilk, a retired Marine who organizes pro-wall rallies as head of the group San Diegans for Secure Borders; Roque De La Fuente, an eccentric millionaire developer who uses the construction as a promotional opportunity; and Civile Ephedouard, a Haitian refugee who spent two years migrating through Central America to the United States and anxiously awaits the results of his asylum case.

Fascinating, propulsive, and incredibly timely, 14 Miles is an important work that explains not only how the wall has reshaped our landscape and countless lives but also how its shadow looms over our very identity as a nation.

Reseñas de la Crítica

"Gibson's compelling work is the perfect mix of personal stories, historical reference, and on-the-ground observations of the building of Donald Trump's Border Wall. Narrator Ramón de Ocampo's nuanced delivery enhances the listening experience. At its center, the story looks at the impact of the wall on individuals and communities on both sides of the border. In doing so, it addresses the inherent conflict that exists between local law enforcement, ICE, Border Patrol, state police, and various business and political influences. De Ocampo matches the mix of factual and anecdotal information with compassion and gravitas that capture the ripple effects on all of those impacted by the Border Wall."