United States Border Patrol

Illegal immigration has plagued the United States since immigration laws were created, and has worsened in recent history. Since Ronald Reagan’s Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 provided amnesty for 3 million illegal aliens in exchange for increased border security, millions of people have entered the country illegally. Over the past 30 years, the illegal immigrant population of the country has more than doubled from 5 million in 1986 to over 11.5 million in 2015. It has become one of the most controversial political issues in America. While not every undocumented alien is a bad or dangerous person, illegal immigrants in general are a national security threat, harmful to the economy, and a burden on the social welfare system. The best solution to the illegal alien problem is to secure and enforce the border, purge American territory of every person unlawfully trespassing upon it, and reform the immigration system to make it easier for foreigners to enter the United States legally like people have done for centuries.

In 1924, the U.S. Border Patrol started its service for our nation. Although changes have affected nearly every aspect of its operations from its earliest days, the values; professionalism, honor, integrity, respect for human life, and a shared effort, helped shape the Border Patrol from the early years and they still remain the same today.

The United States Border Patrol has a mission and duty to protect our borders through regulating laws and preventing illegal terrorists, drugs, and weapons from entering the United States. This has been a clear goal ever since laws have been passed to help secure our borders back in 1924. The need for Border Patrol and the demand for tighter security plans have been increasing due to terrorist attacks on American soil, the presence of radical groups, and a high rate of crime in the United States. The big idea here is that as crime continues to develop so will our border securities. I would like to primarily focus on the current role of the Border Patrol versus what it might have been in years past. Many tragedies have occurred in recent times more than what was experienced years ago. The United States has suffered throughout the year 2000 and continues to suffer from severe threats to the nation. It only makes sense to make changes and tighten our borders in order to help prevent the ongoing crimes. If the Border Patrol does this than the individuals living in this nation will live in a better and much safer environment. Along with their current role, the research on the Border Patrol’s changes that either have hindered their work or made them more effective will be looked into as well.

The 14th Amendment played a large role in the way we perceive today’s society. Being that the beginning of the 14th Amendment states “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside”, the intent of the 14th Amendment is to stop the granting of automatic citizenship of new born babies in the United States. Those babies were born by illegal mothers which deems them to be considered as illegal immigrants. The reason why immigration is bad is due to immigrants taking control of the resources that were meant for Americans to use; such as jobs, free health benefits, education benefits, free housing and much more, thus triggering the start of the 14th Amendment. Aside from immigration, another motive for the 14th Amendment was due to other states violating United States citizens’ rights. In the case

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.

ways to offer more legal immigration to those who wish to enter the United States for

Since the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001, immigration control and national homeland security have been issues of concern for both the national government and private citizens. In the wake of the attacks, a lot of articles were written about what the appropriate response should be to prevent another attack. In 2004, Mark Krikorian wrote an article for the Providence Journal entitled “Safety through Immigration Control” in which he contends that the only means to keep America safe from a follow-up attack is to strengthen and enforce immigration law to prevent terrorists from being able to enter the country. Edwidge Danticat, writing for The Nation in 2005, provides a juxtaposition to Krikorian’s stance in her essay “Not Your Homeland”, in which she describes her witnessing of the inhumane conditions many immigrants are forced to endure in the name of increased security to protect the country. She questions whether the added protections are worth the human cost we are paying by treating immigrants and refugees as guilty until proven innocent. At the crossroads of these two perspectives lies the question: what is the proper balance between national security and the humane treatment of immigrants?

There is an assessed 11 million illegal aliens that are living United States, and this population is projected to upturn by 500,000 yearly. Once a year, about 1 million people that are considered to be aliens are detained when they make the attempt to come in the United States unlawfully. Even though most of these foreigners arrive the United States for financial chances and family reunification, or they are avoiding civil trouble and political unrest, some are offenders, and some could possibly be terrorists. Every one of them is disrupting the United States' immigration laws. With that said, this paper will involve the case study of immigration enforcement and the circumstances around the issue.

Basing their mission on national security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) sees to identify and apprehend criminal aliens and other removable individuals from within the United States, as well as those along the border who are attempting to enter the U.S. illegally. During 2015 ICE conducted 235,413 removals (ice.gov). Even though ICE claims to only detain and deport those who are criminals and threaten national security, ICE detains children, women, and those who have no criminal record. ICE takes part in racial profiling in order to determine who is illegal. In order for ICE to systematically support deportation they illegally enter homes, raid communities, and intimidate people and exploit individuals lack of education and resources.

According to the fourteenth amendment website the fourteenth amendment “is currently misinterpreted to give citizenship to children born in the United States of illegal alien parents. These children, via their birthright citizenship, act as anchor babies and can, upon reaching the age of majority, facilitate bringing their extended family into the US in order to obtain citizenship. Although some experts believe that a Constitutional amendment would be necessary to remedy the misinterpretation, many believe that Congressional action would be sufficient and is urgently warranted.” Not until later was it seen “With illegal aliens who are unlawfully in the United States, their native country has a claim of allegiance on the child. Thus, the completeness of their allegiance to the United States is impaired, which therefore precludes automatic citizenship” (Fourteen Amendment). This was basically a warning for immigrants stating they are responsible for their child and they would not become legal just because they were born in the United States and they would both be claimed by their native land. For example, if a woman from Mexico was to come to the United States illegally, at 8 months pregnant, and have her baby they would not just become legal citizens.

The U.S. Border Patrol to me is very important to the United States of America and to me as well. Without the Border Patrol, America would be a goat standing in the middle of a wolf cage. The Border Patrol and their agents border the boundaries of America so we can be safe in our homes. People don’t realize how important any kind of law enforcement is, until the day that they need assistance comes. I don’t take our men and women who protect us Americans; it is something that not everyone can say that they have. I have no one in my family that has worked with the Border Patrol, and I want to be the first in my family to join the Border Patrol. I am from Del Rio Texas, a border town neighbors with Mexico. The U.S. Border

The reforming of America?s immigration policy is something that can no longer be avoided and must be dealt with as soon as possible. Years of neglect by governmental agencies and policies makers have now made this issue one of the biggest in American politics. First of it must be understood that immigration does no only effect curtain areas of the country and curtain aspect of public life but rather all of American life. Both legal and illegal immigration affect major issues such as jobs availability for all citizens, wages, education in public schools system and in general, health care issues, and the homeland security.

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency is the largest and pri- mary investigative arm of the U.S. DHS.46 ICE is responsible for identifying and inves- tigating weaknesses within the nation’s borders, developing intelligence concerning threats, removing foreign nationals, and enforcing over 400 federal statutes. The agency was formed in 2003 as part of the Homeland Security Act and is the result of a merger of several federal agencies, including the Customs Service, Immigration and Natural- ization, and the Federal Protective Service. ICE has approximately 15,000 employees in 400 offices in the United States and 50 offices around the world.47 The ICE agency plays a pivotal role in enforcing Internet-related crimes because

What is an anchor baby? Would you like someone to call your children an anchor baby? When many illegal women come to the United States to have babies, so they can obtain citizenship for the children, and then they would return to their country, so that when their children are old enough, they may return to the U.S with no problems is called an anchor baby. As a young immigrant I would dislike it if someone called my children such a disgusting name. Personally, I have lived all the terrors, immigrants go through dangerous obstacles just to reach the American dream. The desert is not a safe way to reach the American dream, been lost for three to more days, starvation, and thirst are not a way to die. Therefore, the Supreme Court should not repeal or change the Fourteenth Amendment. “In both ways large or small immigrants have helped shape the United States for the better”. Also, immigrants have contributed to the state’s economic growth, and the American culture. The physical growth and political power that we have now would had ceased to exist. [Debate pg. 591]

Illegal immigration is an increasingly huge issue in the United States. To solve this crisis or at least slow down the rate of illegal immigration, solutions with actions must be put into place. The first step would be to verify citizenship or legal residency for everyone. There should be a national database that can be accessed that would instantaneously verify this information. The federal government should employ Agents to go door to door to procure documentation from each person in a household to verify their citizenship or legal residency and then upload that documentation to the national database. If verification is not readily available, the person should be given 30 days to get the required documentation.