The Dark History of Ambos Nogales: A Divided City with a Shared Legacy

Written By Tristan Dan Silva | Nogales Daily Democrat 25 April 2025

Photograph graciously sourced via Shutterstock

At first glance, Nogales, Arizona, and Nogales, Sonora—collectively known as Ambos Nogales—appear as mirrored cities divided merely by an imposing border wall. However, beneath their intertwined economies and familial connections lies a complex and frequently sombre history, marred by colonial intrusion, violent upheaval, and enduring scars of partition.

Prior to fences and border checkpoints dominating the landscape, the region belonged to ancestral territories of the Tohono O’odham and Apache peoples. The arrival of Spanish colonisers in the 18th century initiated a grim era marked by forced religious conversions, land seizures, and displacement of Indigenous populations.¹

Photograph by Boston Public Library sourced via Unsplash

As geopolitical boundaries shifted, the area now known as Ambos Nogales became ensnared in the tensions between imperial ambitions and territorial expansion. The U.S.–Mexico War (1846–1848) and the resulting Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo reshaped borders, while further tensions emerged with the Gadsden Purchase of 1854, transferring significant portions of northern Mexico—including southern Arizona—to the United States.² This created an ambiguous, liminal space, abruptly bisecting established communities with arbitrary lines on a map.

A pivotal yet tragic chapter unfolded in 1918 during the Battle of Ambos Nogales. A deadly misunderstanding between a Mexican carpenter and a U.S. customs agent quickly escalated into an exchange of gunfire.³ American soldiers and civilians fired across the border, provoking Mexican forces to retaliate. The violent confrontation resulted in more than a dozen fatalities, including the mayor of Nogales, Sonora, ultimately leading to the construction of the first permanent border fence separating the twin cities.⁴

Subsequent decades saw intensified surveillance, increased border patrols, and enhanced fortifications, turning what had once been a permeable boundary into a strictly enforced international divide. Yet Nogales persists as a profound paradox: a single community governed by two administrations, operating with two currencies, and existing within starkly contrasting socio-economic realities, yet bound inexorably by shared culture, vibrant commerce, and familial bonds.

Economic disparities, cartel-driven violence, and stringent U.S. immigration policies have significantly influenced the development of Nogales, Sonora. Meanwhile, on the Arizona side, federal militarisation and rigid immigration legislation have fostered environments of suspicion and division.⁵ Nevertheless, Ambos Nogales demonstrates remarkable resilience against fragmentation. Cross-border festivals, thriving binational trade, and collective activism highlight a shared identity that defiantly transcends physical and political barriers.

Though its past is undeniably marred by violence and externally imposed divisions, the true spirit of Ambos Nogales endures within its inhabitants—those who cherish memories of an era before physical separations and who continue to envision unity beyond the lingering scars of historical discord.

📌 Sources

1. Sheridan, Thomas E. Arizona: A History. University of Arizona Press, 2012.

2. McWilliams, Carey. North from Mexico: The Spanish-Speaking People of the United States. Greenwood Press, 1990.

3. Guerra, Carlos. La Batalla de Ambos Nogales. Archivo Histórico Municipal de Nogales, Sonora, 2018.

4. United States Border Patrol. Historical Overview of the U.S.-Mexico Border, DHS Archive, accessed 20 April 2025.

5. Martínez, Óscar J. Border Boom Town: Ciudad Juárez Since 1848. University of Texas Press, 2006.

   
   

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