Critical Analysis of 9/11 Commission Report

Prior to the events of 9/11, for nearly two decades, America welcomed immigrations to our country with open arms. After 9/11, America’s ideals begin to shift pertaining to immigrants, our nation’s safety, and border patrol. America was left with great fear, post 9/11, and began to implement many changes in our border patrol and immigration laws. “In response to record numbers of illegal border crossings and the security fears triggered by the 9/11 attacks, over the past two decades the United States has steadily increased its efforts to secure its borders against illegal immigration. The number of U.S. Border Patrol agents has risen from fewer than

September 11, 2001 was a day that everyone who was old enough to remember will remember for the rest of their lives. I was in the fourth grade when the World Trade Centers were crashed into. I remember our principal coming on the intercom and saying that we were not allowed to turn our televisions on. I did not understand the magnitude of the situation until I got home and my parents explained it to me. I remember that every plane I saw over my head scared me and I was afraid that a plane was going to be crashed into my home or school. The general population reaction to the attack was that of hysteria and worry. People were afraid of flying. People also feared that this was only the precursor to an even bigger attack that was being planned on the United States. The public wanted someone to blame for the incident and they wanted to know why the government had not prevented the attack if they had been given intelligence that an attack might happen. The years leading up to this terrible day in history were full of tough decisions. No one can say that the government was not interested in terrorism at all. They had small departments in the FBI and CIA that looked at and interpreted terrorism related intelligence. The decisions the government had to make changed the United States forever. There was not one factor that defined how the government dealt with terrorism collectively. The government had to take into account not only the actions to take against

This paper will be discussing the responsibilities and duties of the U.S. Department of Borders Protection (CBP). It will be explaining if what the CBP do is effective and how so. Also it will be explaining how they prevent terrorist attacks and how they work with other law enforcement agencies.

Borders between nations are, largely, used to control and monitor the movement of people internationally. One of the fundamental problems with the border control of states is their ineffectiveness in preventing and deterring people from crossing borders. The most notorious border, the Mexico-United States border, spans an area of 1,989mi (International Boundary & Water Commission, 2017) and has become increasingly militarised over the years due to the, ever increasing, influx of Mexican immigrants attempting to cross the border. The US border security claimed an 81% success rate in preventing illegal immigrants from crossing the border in 2015. However, alternative estimates suggest that the border security’s success rate was in the 40-55% range

In our present times national security became a priority. According to Tricia Escobedo, the last year’s terrorist attack in Paris on the night of November 13th left 129 people dead and hundreds wounded. The perpetrators were a mix of French nationals, and Syrian refugees that migrate to Europe due to the current open door policy for asylum seekers (1). We have a problem because our southern border is an open door for foreign terrorist to enter our country, due to the fact that the many people cross illegally. According to Stephen Dinan, nearly 800,000 people arrived in the past two years (1). I am veteran of the United States Army that deployed many times to Afghanistan, I lived in what we call forward operating bases, this forward operating bases had a secure perimeter due to the presence of physical barrier in this case a wall, in order to protect the people inside, and this solution work because it keep any threats away. We had 100 percent control of the people entering the Forward Operating Base, this kind of control reduced drastically any possibility that a foreign terrorist could enter inside the base, and cause severe casualties between the civilian and military personnel.

Lourdes Medrano is a strong advocate for immigration reform to strengthen the border and the security manning the border. She supports her argument by showing how President George W. Bush’s surge on the US-Mexican border. President Bush doubled the man power along the border, while leading the technological advance on the border. Medrano shows how President Bush brought immigration reform into the spotlight, when roughly 1.6 million immigrants where entering the US illegally. Now the number is historically lower at 356,873 immigrants. The budget for the border patrol has been steadily increasing 1.1 billion in 2001 to 3.5 billion in 2012. Medrano presents how President Bush signed the Secure Fence Act in 2006, which authorized 700 miles of fencing. This his directly contributed to 651 miles of fencing created by 2012. Surge on immigration reform has also doubled the man power from 2001 to 2012, which is exactly what President Bush envisioned. With the border patrol now being a division of Homeland Security and help from the national guard, they have grown much bigger then what they once were. Even the Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano says that “our borders have, in fact, never been stronger.”

On September 11, 2001, terrorists initiated multiple attacks on America that took the lives of nearly three thousand innocent people. It was a day of destruction and horror that will be branded in the minds of many for a long time. The tragedies on 9/11 could have been avoided if airport security in the United States had been stricter. A strong foundation for Homeland Security is essential in protecting America from further attacks. In the essay

Since the 1980s, the US government has undertaken initiatives to make its borders more non-porous to illegal immigration from its neighboring countries. The menace of illegal immigrants seeking better opportunities in the USA started reflecting in the 1970s. The migrating people are motivated by the better non-skilled or semi-skilled employment opportunities in the USA and the relatively higher remuneration for services rendered in the USA than in the neighbor countries especially Mexico (Hanson and Spilimbergo 17). Countries where these people flocked such as the California, Texas and Arizona began experiencing illegal immigrants’ populations’ menace. The main efforts have been along the Mexican and Canadian borders where walking immigrants freely used to walk through. The need to secure the borders has been rising steadily. The successive governments have realized the need for secure borders and it had responded by dedicating more resources to these areas. The need to secure the USA borders has not been groundless, illegal border immigration remains to be the most potent entry point for illegal drugs, smugglers of contraband goods and criminals especially terrorists. In light of these dangerous threats that can be made possible by pours border; it is of utmost need that the U.S. government tighten our borders to neighboring countries.

Prior to 9/11 the security of the United States was “across more than 40 federal agencies and an estimated 2,000 separate Congressional appropriations accounts”. (DHS History Office ,2017, p.4). This was a huge issue when it came to sharing intelligence. This was perhaps one of the many reasons that the terrorist of 9/11 were so successful. Shortly after 9/11, the United States found its self in need of an all-encompassing organization that shared information under one roof that enabled better protection of its infrastructure and its people at home, not just abroad. Shortly over a year later, in November 2002, Congress passed the “Homeland Security Act” (DHS.gov, 2017, para.2). With the creation of homeland security came conflict

“In 2014, 5.8 million unauthorized immigrants from Mexico lived in the U.S.,” according to Pew Research Center (Krogstad). Regulating the number of illegal immigrants from entering the United States has become an increasingly significant issue for the federal government’s agenda after, the number of unauthorized immigrants reached a peak in 2007 at 12.2 million, when this group made up 4% of the U.S. population (Krogstad). An abundance of proposed solutions have been offered to limit the steadily increasing number of illegal immigrants from reaching American soil, such as: mandating E-verify, a system that determines whether or a not a person is eligible to work in the United states, strengthening border security, and fortifying interior enforcement measures in the United States (Illegal Immigration and Border Security). Another major plan sources from President Donald Trump, who hopes to build a wall spanning between the United States and Mexico. This idea has ignited numerous opposing arguments that have picked out its irrationalities, and display how Donald Trump’s proposal to erect a wall generates more complications than benefits.

On September 11, 2001, there were 2,996 casualties and more than 6,000 others were injured in the terroristic attacks of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Some may say that these acts of terrorism changed the American homeland security for the better, others disagree. Since the events of September 11, 2001, the Department of Homeland Security was created and expanded into one of the largest divisions of the federal government. This paper consists of the lack of homeland security before September 11, 2001, the creation of the Department of Homeland Security, and the development of this department, which is leading America to be safer since the last act of terrorism.

Illegal immigration has been a continuing problem in which many people have offered solutions; some have worked better than others. Secure Communities is a program that was implemented in 2008 and has caused serious controversy because of the mandatory nature of the new program policy. This paper will review an article called Federal immigration enforcement is mandatory, memo says. In addition, the pros, cons, and various implications will be reviewed.

As previously established, the United States, a country with borders stretching over thousands of miles, lacks the capacity to fully observe and protect every corner of its territory. Some individuals seem unmoved by so many undocumented persons entering the country, stating that “borders should generally be open and… people should normally be free to leave their country of origin and settle in another…” (Higgins 528). However, these proponents of open borders neglect to recognize that as hundreds of illegal immigrants cross the borders, the issue of terrorism and overall safety becomes a major concern. Without undergoing the proper restrictions and precautions required to enter the United States, these illegal immigrants could potentially be a major threat to the country. So in order to decrease these Terrisits attacks in the United States, we need to strengthen the border security. Because of the events of 9/11 and the expanding population of displaced people, the legislature of the United States has consistently expanded its endeavors to upgrade national security over the previous years. The Secure Fence Act of 2006, marked into law by George W. Shrubbery, ordered the development of 652 miles of wall along our Southern fringes. What's more, as of February 2012, DHS has finished 651 miles of obstructions. As per DHS, the quantity of Border Patrol specialists

The beginning of this text, Alden summarized the current measures we are taking to secure the border as well as screen the peoples that come into this county to be a student, visit, or for employment. The author described how the government has changed over the past couple of decades to the current day on how people can enter this county for the variety of reasons and is able to attempt to detect the unwanted from entering as well. He summarized how “loose” the borders were in the past to how much more secure they are in the present.

Since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 the border has become less open and more secured from what it used to be prior to the terrorist attacks (CBP, 2009, p. 5). The main reason is due to illegal immigration becoming a national security issue since illegal immigration can create opportunities for terrorists to commit terrorist attacks in the homeland by importing weapons and terrorist personal to the United States via smuggling routes that illegal immigrants use when they cross the border (CBP, 2009, p. 6).