In 2009, after the federal government seized the land on the U.S. side from the State of California, the Department of Homeland Security constructed a second barrier across the face of Monument Mesa.  Visitors to Friendship Park in the United States were forcibly prevented from approaching this historic location.
 
Citing U.S. customs law, Border Patrol officials devised alternate scenarios to prevent people from passing items through the fence. Now the security wall at Friendship Park is covered in thick metal mesh.  It encircles the monument several feet to its northern side, rendering it entirely inaccessible, and in fact barely visible to people standing in the United States. Even during visiting hours, a limited number of people are admitted to federal property to visit with friends and family in Mexico, in spite of the wall between them.

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