It’s all a game. Except unlike Where’s Waldo, the players are politicians, the pieces are human beings and the risk is their safety and security. Where’s Wall-Though is the latest, real-life form of the game.

Imagine going to work every day and worrying about getting softball sized rocks thrown at your head. If you’re anything like me, you’d peace out of that position real quick. But, for our Border Patrol agents, that’s an actual fear they have every single day — and in one particular case, this stoning of our federal agents led to traumatic brain injury of someone I now consider a friend.

Agent Christopher Harris, who also serves as Director of Legislative and Political Affairs for the National Border Patrol Council, gave me two very enlightening border tours and briefings over the past several weeks. On these tours I saw first-hand the negligence of our federal government, and I’m not referring to the agents.

My family immigrated here from Mexico. I am the daughter of a first generation-born American. I really do empathize with families who want to come to America to seek a better life for their families because mine did, too. Especially now that the Mexico today is not the same Mexico it was back in the 60s.

We all are aware to some degree how bad the drug cartels are in Mexico. They decapitate human beings who wrong them, kill journalists who expose them, and then they disintegrate bodies in acid to get rid of them. That last one happened here in San Diego, but the lack of transparency and accountability in our government has encouraged politicians to act like this is not a problem and just sweep it under the rug.

The majority of people crossing the border here in San Diego today are criminal illegal aliens (people in gangs like MS-13 who have nothing to lose), and cartel members. There’s no way around that, it’s a fact. That doesn’t mean that there aren’t families who come seeking amnesty. It also doesn’t mean that everyone “seeking amnesty” is being truthful.

According to Harris, he’s experienced many fake stories from people all around the world who have flown into Tijuana and walked across the border “seeking amnesty” (yes, it’s that easy unfortunately). In one case, he caught a Chinese individual trying to cross over who claimed amnesty for being persecuted as a Christian. Seemed legitimate, until Harris asked the individual to tell him a bit about Jesus and he said, “oh he’s a friend of Buddha.”

On a more heart-wrenching note, Harris has also experienced cases of human trafficking. Knowing that the U.S. is very sympathetic to mothers, he’s had cases where gypsies would come over with babies, act as if they’re families seeking a better life, and later admit that the babies were props given to them to make crossing easier. This begs the terrifying question, in the cases where these people did get across as “family units”, what happened to these babies?

The point I hope to make by telling these stories is that it’s not all sunshine and roses on the border, and sure doesn’t smell like it either.

If you’re from San Diego, you know about the Tijuana River Valley. For the unaware, it’s a giant sewage-filled, heavy metal contaminated pit — that, when it rains, drags in piles of garbage and occasionally a dead body or two across the border.

Here’s a glimpse:

Shockingly, there are ducks that live in the area. How they survive is beyond me, but I think mutant duck says it all. He’s the Bigfoot of the Tijuana River Valley region. Those ducks around him are fully grown ducks, not ducklings.

So in case you were wondering, this is what poisonous bacteria and heavy metals does, guys.

The surrounding area is so contaminated that when the environmentalist groups WILDCOAST and Surfider Foundation teamed up for a cleanup day of the area, volunteers got so sick that multiple people ended up hospitalized.

This border contamination has been a problem for decades. Not only is this a problem for our Border Patrol agents who work in it, but it’s a problem for the people of San Diego. So much so, that every San Diegan knows not to surf or swim in the water near the border unless they want to get flesh eating viruses.

The thing is, these are just some of the surface level problems of what is happening right now in our backyard and they have been ongoing problems for decades.

If it wasn’t for our Border Patrol agents and the infrastructure that now exists, the neighborhoods along the border wouldn’t be livable. Even worse, the economy booster also known as the San Ysidro outlet mall, which is so close to Mexico your cell phone thinks you’re there, wouldn’t be safe for basics like me to shop in. But that’s not cutting it.

The state of the border in San Diego is an issue of public health, an issue of national security, and a result of partisan politics. There’s a lot that needs to be done at the border and it goes far beyond just building a wall to secure it.

Morgan Murtaugh is a congressional candidate for California’s 53rd District. To learn more about her visit morganmurtaugh.com

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The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of The Daily Caller.