I've got no problem with people informally using the word real in the way you suggest (and in fact I only reference things like electron charge as exemplars of

I've got no problem with people informally using the word real in the way you suggest (and in fact I only reference things like electron charge as exemplars of the objective, not to suggest that we can only speak of the brutally physical as real). Nevertheless, however, asserting that a border is "real" or ought to be thought of as real is not a description of "the facts on the ground that impact our lives," it is an assertion that some particular state of affairs should be acceded to by some set of people. Characterizing it as a dispute about reality is deeply disingenuous.