By Danielle Schlanger | The Huffington Post
Cochise County, Ariz., a rural swath of desert larger than Connecticut and Rhode Island combined, shares an 82-mile border with Sonora, Mexico. Daniel Ortega, Jr., the Democratic mayor of Douglas, and Adriana Badal, the independent mayor of Bisbee, lead two different border towns in Cochise. Undocumented immigrants cross the border near their cities. Long lines form at the border crossings. And residents suffer from poverty that both mayors believe could be alleviated by more business from Mexico — though both also worry that immigration reform from Congress won’t help the region economically.
But the mayors’ perception of border security is markedly different: Ortega believes that a wall is a necessity, Badal thinks migration will happen regardless. Ortega supports more manpower at his city’s border crossing, Badal says her town is a militarized zone and there’s enough security already.
