The U.S. border with Mexico hasn't always been controversial

This is from July, 1975: That's my mother, me, Anita Alvarado and
Aunt Lucille, at the Macarena in Cuidad Acuna, Mexico.

     A person can hardly listen to the news, or read a newspaper, without some mention of the U.S. border with Mexico.

    Immigration is a hot-button topic in this country, with frequent requests for the U.S. Congress to fix issues that have developed over the years. 

    Many believe the lawmakers' inaction is a result of split public opinion on immigration. According to the 2022 Gallup poll, about 31 percent of Americans prefer immigration numbers stay at the current level while 27 percent say the numbers should be increased and 38 percent would like to see decreased levels.

   Current news reports are that today's border crisis is worsened by Central Americans who are coming to the United States because of economic and safety issues in their homeland. The numbers seeking help in the U.S. are high and few people see solutions on the horizon.

    Back in the day, however, the border seemed much calmer. That's the experience of this blogger who was 17 years old in the summer of 1975.

    My mom and her sister, Aunt Lucille, lived in an apartment in Austin, Texas at the time. Mom had some health issues and my aunt, a retired social worker, hired a Mexican American woman to help out. Anita Alvarado was ever-helpful and a positive influence on all three of us.

    I spent several weeks in Texas that summer. One weekend Mom and Aunt Lucille wanted to visit Mexico as I hadn't been there. Anita was happy to help out. We traveled first to Del Rio, Texas, located directly across the border from Cuidad Acuna, Mexico.

   It was a very educational experience. We visited Anita's home and her mother cooked for us. I haven't had any better Mexican food since. I also met her teenage sister's friends -- I was the first Iowan they'd met.

    We did cross over to Mexico and it was like simply driving down the highway, with a gate.

    Our visit to Cuidad Acuna included shopping, of course, as well as a visit to an establishment called Macarena. We spent a couple of hours in Mexico. Before we crossed back to Texas, I walked in a field to look at the Rio Grande River, and we also toured the Amistad Dam, located between Del Rio and Cuidad Acuna.

    I don't remember any kind of drama in Cuidad Acuna, or Del Rio for that matter.

    Times change of course. But that part of the U.S.-Mexico border was calm, pretty and very interesting.

    Especially to a teenager from Iowa.

I walk in a field above the Rio Grande River,
near Cuidad Acuna, Mexico.
Below, the 17-year-old Iowan shops in the Mexican city.