After the 9/11 terrorist attacks, border security has escalated to an all-time high in order to protect the United States’ borders. Just eleven days after the 9/11 attacks, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge was appointed as the first ever director of Homeland Security inside of the white house. This office oversaw the strategy to protect our country against terrorism and they would also respond to any future attacks on our country. Shortly after the Department of Homeland Security was created, the US also created the Customs and Border Protection, also known as CBP. (Department of Homeland Security) The CBP was created to bring together all personnel that had anything to do with the law enforcement responsible of all United States borders. …show more content…
Every year, thousands of “illegal aliens” die as a result of attempts to cross the border illegally into the United States. (Payan) Within these thousands of miles, the biggest ports of entry illegal immigrants attempt to enter through would be the West Texas/ New Mexico border, and the Arizona/California border. (UKEssays) At these borders, there are thousands of arrests that are made every year by the border patrol, and not only are these people trying to illegally migrate to our country, they are also bringing illegal narcotics with them. (UKEssays) In the late 1900’s due to the higher demand for drugs, the United States saw a massive increase in drug trafficking into the United States, which caused the U.S. Border Patrol to respond with increased jobs, and the use of more modern technology such as night vision goggles, seismic sensors, and a computer processing system to assist the border patrol apprehend these people crossing into our country illegally. The border between the United States, and Mexico has been involved in one of the biggest drug wars that first began in the year 1969 while the president at the time was Richard Nixon, and he was the one who initially declared the war on drugs in the U.S. …show more content…
ports of entry. In the year 2011, the U.S. Border Patrol seized 787,930.82 pounds of marijuana that was being smuggled across the border. After viewing these numbers in the year 2011, versus the numbers in the year 2010, (2,339,604 pounds) it is clear that the border patrol is either causing people to stop smuggling drugs into the U.S., or missing it at check points and letting it into our country. When it comes to apprehending illegal immigrants, and stopping the smuggling of drugs, the Border Patrol are playing a large role in stopping drug trafficking into our country. (The Center for Investigative
The concept of securing the border limiting immigration is reliant on the fact that by having a “fence” it captures more illegal immigrants, rather than not having one at all. To better secure the border the fence is a first step. I think that there are better ways to secure the border such as employing more unemployed Americans to help patrol this barrier. I feel that in today’s society many Americans would rather see their tax dollars going to use. I would also suggest we pull more troops out of Iraq and encourage their use on our home soil.
The United States have declared that it is doing its best to combat the war on drugs. The drug problem has not stopped and the people continue to buy drugs no matter what circumstances they are obtained. With drugs prices rising, people are willing do anything to get drugs even if it leads them to become involved in criminal activities such as robbery. The money and military activity have not been enough, and the “urban problem,” has not been resolved. The United States has the largest demand of drugs in the world. While other countries also face the drug problem, the United States has spent the most money and law enforcement; however, its effectiveness is questionable. Consequently, now there is a great amount of drugs coming from Mexico’s borderline into the United States. The drug cartels have become more violent, killing Mexican officers and innocent people in order to smuggle their drugs. The United States needs more security control and better coordination between agencies to fight the violent Mexican drug war spilling across the southern border. There is not enough organization between the D.E.A and other groups such as the Department of Homeland Security. The United States has little hope of winning the war unless enough protection on the border and Border States are developed. The agencies need better coordination between the federal, state and locals agencies in order to prevent more drugs to cross
The United States Border Patrol is a police force located all over America. Most people think the only job Border Patrol has is chasing down immigrants due to the media coverage on the Mexican border. Although it is a big part of the job it is not the only thing done. The main position for agents is in Mexico, another main location is Canada. Between the two locations 21,000 agents patrol 6,000 miles. (Department of Homeland Security, n.d.) The Border Patrol’s keeps illegal people, drugs, and weapons of mass destruction from entering our country. Another major responsibility is to prevent terrorist from trying to cross the border. In order to prevent this from happening Border Patrol have check points with man power alert at all times. Equipped with the best equipment from the government they stop virtually everything crossing. I along with most of the country feel that this is a very important job in the United States.
To create terrorism is to create unlawful violence or war that is intentionally targeted to civilians. It can also be defined as a systematic use of terror to induce violent attacks that often lead to war. The network of Al-Qaeda, created by terrorist leader Osama Bin Laden, was formed by the World Islamic Front for Jihad against Jews and their Crusaders. Right after its creation, there were attacks at the US embassies in Kenya in 1998. Bin Laden then planned for the attacks after 2000, as there was an attempt to bomb Los Angeles International Airport but it was stopped. In October 2000, the USS Cole bombing occurred. This was immediately followed by the infamous September 11 2001 terrorist attack. This point in time kickstarted the beginning of wartime in North America.
This bill was introduced to the “Homeland Security Committee” on January 12, 2017 by Representative Martha McSally. If this bill were to be passed it would improve the border and add more border patrol agents. The citizens living in areas surrounding the border would be the most impacted by the bill along with the illegal immigrants. The bill would make it harder for illegal immigrants to enter the United Sates. If the bill is passed the total bill would be $40 billion, heaped on to the cost of a bill that already poured billions of dollars into increased society, however if the bill is passed there will be more jobs for Americans, and decreased crime rates. The bill will keep other citizens safe from facing these illegal immigrants who may act violently. Overall it will decrease crime rates throughout the United States, illegal immigrants usually bring illegal items with them which if not passed could lead to a rise in the crime rate. Right now, illegal immigrants can pass over the border without getting stopped because of the lack of patrollers. They are able to pass through at any time they want, however if the bill H.R.505 is passed then those illegal immigrants can never pass through the border whenever they would
The drug use in the United States is one of the highest in world, with a never-ending supply both from our nation southern border and ports. However, it is hard to describe the enemy since many that migrate here to the United States do so to escape their home countries situations. For example, in Honduras and El Salvador jobs are hard to find and the murder rate is higher than that of a war zone. On the same note, drug smuggler and human trafficking poses a high risk to both our nation border patrol and citizens near the border. Additionally, since security has tighten on the border, many are now traveling through hazardous terrain such as desert and mountains to make it. Often this exposed them to the harsh climate and many dangerous creatures that roam our nations southern barren
The United States and Mexican border has been a topic long debated between citizens and politicians, on one hand the trade between the two countries has shown great economic prosperity since the introduction of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), notwithstanding this success there has also been a huge spike in human trafficking and other illegal activity since the inception of the border. While the growth of the GDP for all three countries involved (United States, Mexico, Canada) has become evident it is unclear whether it is truly fair to all parties involved.
The DEA faces different challenges everyday of protecting this country's border from people who try to smuggle illegal drugs. according to the United States Customs Service, 60 million people enter the United States on more than 675,000 commercial and private flights. Another 6 million come over by sea and 370 million by land. In addition, 116 million vehicles cross land borders with Canada and Mexico. More than 90,000 merchant and passenger ships dock at U.S. ports. These ships carry more than 9 million shipping containers and 400 million tons of cargo. Another 157,000 smaller vessels visit our many coastal towns. In the middle of this large trade, drug traffickers conceal cocaine, heroin, marijuana, methamphetamine and numerous other types of illegal drugs for shipments for distribution in U.S.
Drug smuggling has been an issue in the United States since the 1960s and the Border Patrol has made many efforts to stop drugs from crossing our borders. The Purpose of the Border Patrol is to secure and keep our borders safe. Recently their focus has been on illegal immigration and drug smuggling. Drug smuggling has become an increasing issue and the efforts of the Border Patrol are being pushed to stop these illegal activities. The influx of drugs into the U.S. has many effects on our country as a whole and as smugglers get creative in finding new methods to get around the Border Patrol, it becomes harder for them to stop it. This may be why it seems too easy to get drugs across the border. With new techniques of smuggling it allows for more drugs to enter the U.S. and it leave the Border Patrol on their toes and on a constant lookout for these new techniques.
The U.S. Customs and Law enforcement who is within the Department of Homeland Security is challenge with investigations for things such as, illegal drugs which crosses the border and to combat any illegal entries or alien smuggling at the border. Their focus is to protect the U.S. border, which has been in place by Department of Homeland Security ever since September 11, terrorist attack. In order for departments such as U.S. Customs and Law enforcement to help prevent such illegal entries of illegal aliens into the United States they to work together with the other departments within the Department of Homeland Security to facilitate the flow of legal immigration and goods through the U.S. border while deterring those who are undocumented from crossing the border.
Every day the U.S. border patrol has to constantly keep an eye out for the smuggling of drugs by Mexican Cartels. There has been much violence due to this drug problem that has left many people near the border killed and is allowing more criminals to obtain these weapons. A lot of this attention goes to the U.S. because many of the weapons utilized in the “drug war” are U.S. made and is interfering with trading relations amongst both the U.S. and Mexico. With this current violent situation in Mexico this has transformed the flow of weapons to an even larger scale.
Author Peter Andreas explains that a "wide range of smuggling practices" has been part of the "cross-border economic exchange since the nineteenth century," and hence the present-day smuggling of drugs across the border into the United States is not at all a new phenomenon (Andreas, 2012, p. 29). In fact Andreas explains that the economic relationship between the United States and Mexico "…was founded on smuggling," and today (as drugs move from south to north) things are opposite of what they were two hundred or so years ago when the smuggling went from north to south (Andreas, 29).
In February 2011 the United States began sending unarmed drones to collect information on drug traffickers. Later in August, the United States started in cross border raids, sending CIA operatives and older military personnel to aid the Mexican military. In addition to assisting Mexico, the United States increased security on our side and spends approximately $3 billion on securing the border. Decriminalization is a highly disputed policy option, in November of 2012 two states in the United States passed laws for the legalization of recreational use of marijuana. However, it is still a United States federal law that marijuana is illegal. Although decriminalization would lead to less incarcerations, it would put more drugs in the hands of users and increase drug exporting from Mexico. A prime strategy that both the United States and Mexico have been using is to take out the “high value” individuals or “foot soldiers”. This takes out the mass exporters but still leaves the middle and lower class drug traffickers. Which then the middle class moves up and takes over for whatever “high value” cartel that was just taken out. Almost immediately after, Mexico’s new president, Enrique Peña Nieto took office in December of 2012. Of those who reported missing or those who just “disappeared” the Peña Nieto government claims they will seek to verify all the missing ones. After coming into office, the administration of Peña Nieto changes the security policies. In
The core issue of the illegal immigrants is that they are contributing to the deterioration of security in American neighborhoods. Research has indicated that an increase in the number of illegal immigrants has led to a surge in crimes and insecurity in neighborhoods in which these immigrants stay. This is considered as a threat to the country. Additionally, there is a suspicion that the issue of drug dealing, peddling, and using is escalating partly because of increased illegal immigrants (DeSipio, 2014). The war on drugs policies has been failing in fighting the major target areas that are production, selling, transport, using and addiction to banned substances or drugs. The illegal immigration issue contributes to the failure the war on
Drug trafficking is an illegal drug trading system in which drugs are brought from other countries to the United States. According to the article, “Crime and Drug Control Policies in the United States” written by Thomas Mieczkowski, illegal drug trafficking from Mexico and Colombia have been hurting the American society for many years. Drugs have been coming into the U.S. in many different forms and routes especially through the border of the United States and Mexico (Mieczkowski 2008). The large amounts of drugs brought into America is for intent to sell and make immense amounts of profit. Most of the drugs coming in from Mexico and other South American countries are all easily grown or produced from where it comes from. After these drugs enter the U.S. they are given to distributors who supply portions to many different drug dealers and these drug dealers sell the drugs to the citizens of America. In most cases the buyer of the drugs are drug addicts, or someone that 's just trying sell what they got for more profit (Mieczkowski 2008). All these different drugs are causing thousands of American teens to become addicts, which leads them to lose control and do absurd things or die due to overdose on those drugs (The History of Drug Abuse). The DEA and the American government do many things to prevent drugs coming in from Mexico and confiscate anything they find, but the amount confiscated is nowhere near the amount actually entering the U.S. (Mieczkowski 2008). Drug