The Defectiveness Of Border Security

Mexican Border Problems The U.S.-Mexico border region is one of the most dynamic in the world. It extends more than 3,100 kilometers (2,000 miles) from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific Ocean, and 100 kilometers (62.5 miles) on each side of the international border and is marked by high concrete fences in the west and a broad shallow river in the east when it reaches Texas. The region includes large deserts, numerous mountain ranges, rivers, wetlands, large estuaries, and shared aquifers. While its people share natural resources like water and air, the border region is characterized by many social, economic, and political contrasts.

In a book entitled Human Security in a Borderless World by Derek S. Reveron and Kathleen A. Mahoney-Norris, they mention how over the course of twenty years, security has shifted from focusing on a state level to a human security level in which challenges of poverty, disease, and crime have been associated (Reveron 2). They also define national security and human security in a table that identifies the ways that each concept looks at a different issue. For instance, when the primary concern of national security is to establish “regime stability and security”, issues of “economic status, health, personal security, and liberties” are human security’s primary concerns (Reveron 3). Additionally, the issue of the ultimate end-state between national security and human security posed differences in that national security focuses on “National Sovereignty, territorial integrity, vitality of government, institutions, and society” while human security focuses on “Freedom from want, freedom from fear, freedom of expression, and freedom of beliefs” (Reveron 3). Even though it would be in the United States’ best interest for their foreign policy to reflect the idea of human security as national security due to Hillary Clinton’s national security strategies, the Iraq War, and Obama and Bush’s doctrines.

Although the issue with illegal immigration is prominent, the solution is not as clear. Some say the annual quota of 20,000 Mexicans should be raised (Anderson 65). This does not help the fact that there is a 5-9 year wait for over 1 million immigrants to enter the country legally (Anderson 57). "Most illegals are of working age and looking for jobs" (Anderson 57). They don't want to wait years to get a job. Otherwise, there would not be near as many people crossing the border every year. Some people call for a border fence in order to lower the number of illegals (Marcovitz 27). In 2006, Congress began a $2.5 billion project to fence nearly 700 miles of the Mexican border (Marcovitz 27). Many are still pushing for the entire border to be fenced off (Marcovitz 27). Currently, only about one third of the border has been fenced, and over 1,000 miles still remain open (Marcovitz 28). The fence is patrolled by border officers. In 1992 there were about 3,500 border patrol officers. In 2010 that number had grown to over 20,000 (Marcovitz

The border between the United States and Mexico consists of 1,952 miles of land border that divides a “first” world and “third” world nation. Any border is an environment of opportunity. People flock to borders around the world to exploit the regions’ resources and people. There are always plenty of people at the borders of nations to build large factories, or to traffic narcotics and weapons into neighboring nations.

One of the pros for building the fence is that “control of the borders are required for national security”. With the rise of terrorist groups around the world including

Immigration is a rapid growing issue for the United States. For a long time people from other countries have been coming here to look for bigger and better things for themselves, as well as for their families. This article digs to the core of the issue, illegal immigration. Chideya wanted to know three things: 1) What is the reality behind the perceptions of Mexican Americans, 2) How do the residents of El Paso look upon the Mexicans, and 3) How do Mexican-Americans see themselves and their cousins across the border.

For illegal immigrants, it is very dangerous for them to come across. They are risking their lives and their families’ lives in search for work. In the deserts that they cross are robbers, murders, no water and no food. The AZ Republic (2003) estimated that in a year’s time, approximately one million people will get caught trying to sneak illegally into the U.S., and over 1000 will die. According to the USCR (2002), in July, Mexico began a campaign to amplify the immigration enforcement at the southern border. The called their campaign “Plan Sur”, and it was aimed at stopping numerous illegal immigrants from stepping foot into the U.S. After September 11, hundreds more were deployed to watch the border from illegal immigrants. Also, The INS has the border wired with high-tech gizmos and practically 10,000 agents to slash the stream

At a cost ranging in the billions, this multi year project was not without costly troubles. A byproduct of the SBI is the Secure Fence Act of 2006. The SFA increased the border control funding from a low of $4.6 billion to $10.4 billion. The goal was to employ the use of technology like radar, cameras and sensors, as well as infrastructure via fences, roads and lighting to detect and deter illegal entry. The focus was on the southwest border at areas deemed “more vulnerable” than other entry points. The fence was to be 700 miles long and equipped with the latest and greatest technology tax payers could buy. The fence was a failure. Radar and motion detectors set off alarms sending in the troops but often they are false alarms. Birds fly into the fence and set the alarms off and even high winds will set it off.(3) What’s the solution? A political debate of course! How can the government ineffectually spend more? A proposal by Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, Duncan Hunter, called for two fences composed of metal and wire that would run from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific Coast. Additionally, he proposed that a two layer 15’ fence be constructed along the entire length of the U.S/Mexico border. (3) The cost was estimated to be from 4 billion to eight billion dollars for the 2,000 mile fence. A Fox News/Opinion Dynamics poll indicated that Americans favored a proposal to build a 2,000-mile security fence by a 51-to-37 percent margin.

..cannot remain silent about the repeated and reprehensible attempts to align my boss and his family with racist hate mongering groups and hate mongering…There is no amount of money that can buy my loyalty to a family to subscribe to such intolerant and bigoted ideologies.

The United States shares a nearly 2,000-mile long border with the United Mexican States, or commonly known simply as Mexico. Along this border, lies many natural barriers such as the Rio Grande River that separates American states like Texas and New Mexico from their Mexican counterparts Chihuahua and Coahuila. Other areas on this border do not have rivers that separate the two countries, but rugged terrain where temperatures can regularly reach the mid to upper nineties. While border patrol surveys the land in an attempt to halt people from entering the United States through illegal measures, they are not always successful as these individuals sometimes enter the US without detection with help of paid guides. Unfortunately due to the unfamiliarity with the land, and the lack of supplies, many have perished in the quest for a better life.

The United States border with Mexico is one of the most interesting borders in the world. Although it is not a military front like the border between the Koreas or as militarized as the border of Russia and the Ukraine, there is a lot going on that requires attention. The southern border of the United States is different from almost all of those in the world because many of its problems are based off of the economic disparity between each country. The difference between wealth and quality of life is substantial and results in people going beyond regular means to cross the border to have a better life. There is also a large difference in the legal and law enforcement system that is exploited by Mexican cartels to make money through drug and human trafficking. The differences between these two

You may be asking how these illegals have been affecting our National Security. Well for starters, when these immigrants come state side we have no idea why they are coming here, who they are bringing with them, or what they are bringing with them. We also don’t have any clue to how they are getting access to our country either. So these two issues could have the potential to cause significant issues for our country. For example these people could be smuggling in illegal drugs or possibly even weapons. Even though our boarders have the potential to let in drugs and weapons, these could possibly be the worst of our worries in some cases. Another threat that illegal immigration through our boarders poses is that these holes within the boarders

Throughout history of the United States and Mexican border there has been multiple depths of changes and immigration. From the area trading country ownership to population changes to having a fence line created on it. Seen in Figure1, the U.S.-

Starting in 2006, the United States started to develop the wall along parts of the frontier between U.S. and Mexico. There was 670 miles of the wall authorized to be assembled, and there were many objections to it being built. Besides the oppositions, from 2006 to 2009 there was already more than 100 miles of the wall constructed (Gilman 258). Congress passed the “Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act” in 1996. The act gave power to the government to create walls or barriers along the border, and it allowed it to seize land from people if it is imperative in protecting the borderline of the country (Gilman 259). In 2006, the “Secure Fence Act” was passed that instructed the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to develop a fence stretching from 5 different areas of the border. In 2007, there was 70 miles of the wall built in the Arizona and Mexico frontier. Since this occurrence, the government then shifted its surveillance to the border along Texas and Mexico in 2007, and started suggestions to assemble more than 100 miles of the border wall by 2008 (Gilman 260). Towards the end of 2007, the

The fence failure brings me to my next point about its faults. The fence is nowhere near complete, yet the President himself is claiming that it is complete. On the contrary, Nicole Miller reported in the “Texas International Law Journal” that “The latest reports from June 2009 reported that 633 miles of the original 700 were completed” (Miller 8). The 700 miles of fencing may have been built, but that still leaves over 1,200 miles of unsecured border. The fence has been placed only at certain points where they slow immediate entry into cities and roads. Just beyond the cities and roads the fence ends unexpectedly; so the illegal traffic simply avoids the more guarded fence and goes around. (Holt 3-4) Native American culture is being affected by the fence as well. Many Native American tribes like the Tohono O’Odham, who live