Gabe Vasquez

SUNLAND PARK — Despite temperatures approaching 100 degrees and lack of shade along five miles of switchback trail, a few visitors ventured up Mount Cristo Rey around noontime Wednesday.

At the peak, a popular destination for hikers and pilgrims, is a monument featuring a 29-foot icon of Jesus Christ and an altar for religious services, with sweeping views of the point where Texas, New Mexico and Ciudad Juárez meet.

From the southwestern side, the 30-foot border wall dividing the U.S. and Mexico was plainly in view, cutting a dark line into the desert landscape leading to a site where construction equipment was in view preparing to install new sections of the steel bollard barrier.

The area is known for migrant crossings that can be dangerous due to the climate as well as accidents from climbing existing sections of wall. Federal agents in Border Patrol and unmarked vehicles kept watch at points around the base of Mount Cristo Rey, while a Customs and Border Protection helicopter patrolled in circles above the trail.

“I don’t think a jackrabbit can get across the border without being caught, “ Deacon Jim Winder of the Diocese of Las Cruces said, describing new roads and sensors federal authorities have installed. “We are saying the border wall is not necessary, because there are other means in place.”

The diocese has turned to federal court to oppose the Department of Homeland Security’s condemnation of about 14.3 acres of church land to close a border wall gap near the southern base of the peak. A hearing has been set later this month on the government’s request to take immediate possession of the land to begin construction.

The project may proceed without an environmental impact review under a waiver issued by former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem last year. The church argued in court filings that without such reviews, the project may present unknown risks to the mountain and the icon that has stood over it for 85 years. The church has also presented the project as a potential impediment to religious freedom, discouraging participation in regular pilgrimages to the site.

Winder said the monument embodies hope and unity, in contrast to a wall he described as “a symbol of division.”

On Wednesday, Winder met with U.S. Rep Gabe Vasquez, D-N.M., for a briefing on the dispute.

Vasquez also met with border county law enforcement agencies to discuss their needs, public safety concerns and trends in crime, including fentanyl trafficking.

“Border security is incredibly important,” Vasquez said during the conversation. “This entire area is a huge focus of implementing new technology and efforts to improve border security. … We can have both: We can protect a sacred site and we can also have border security to ensure the safety of our communities.”

Republicans have blasted Vasquez over his opposition to border fencing across the U.S.-Mexico border and for military assets being deployed there. Vasquez has advocated instead for a mix of physical barriers in certain areas with surveillance technologies and assets for federal and local law enforcement.

In court filings and public statements, the church said it, too, supports the mission of border security while calling for a more holistic and democratic approach.

“I think we can have border security, but we can have thriving economies, we can have thriving cultures and religions,” Winder said. “I think we can have it all if we would just communicate and be willing to work together.”