EL PASO, Texas — Every morning, Johnatan Becerra gets up early to go to his construction job, a career that employs Latinos.

“In construction I have been working for 3 years. It's a bitch but it's nice to be working,” Becerra said.

Becerra came to El Paso from Durango, Mexico, and found construction is a good way to make money. He is single and works to save money for a better future. He says he would work at any job he’s offered, even if it were building the border wall.

Rene Terrazas is a young parent who was working on the wall before it was canceled by President Joe Biden.

“If you look at that door, previously the wall was like that and now you look on the left side, that is the new wall,” Terrazas said. “Basically what we did was the demolition of the prior wall, we still have to take those posts in the middle that you see, we have to take them down.”

Terrazas has family in Mexico and Hispanic friends in El Paso, who criticized him for his work.

“It’s just jokes you know. They would say ‘Hey, how come you are working on the wall? Hey, just leave a hole, you know?’ But, it is just jokes,” 

Both Becerra and Terrazas empathize with those looking to cross the border in search of a better life but say working on the wall is just another regular job.

“Personally I was not a Trump supporter, right? But at the end of the day, it is just a job that we have to provide for our families,” Terrazas said. “We understand where the situation is coming from and it is sad obviously, you don’t like it, you see it everyday while you work, you know? People are trying to cross, but it is just a job. Supposedly whatever was unfinished, we are supposed to come back and do the right job, finish it.”

“It doesn't affect me, it's a job. It feels bad but thank God I have the opportunity to work here and I take advantage of the work that there is,” Becerra said.