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.
There is the single biggest and most dangerous problem facing America:
violence from illegal immigrants, smugglers and drug runners along
America's southern border. Until recently, the Border Patrol focused
on catching aliens who had already gained access to the U.S. Now they
concentrate on never letting them in the first place. For instance,
in 1991 at one crossing point alone, there were 60 million crossings
through the official gates between San Diego and Tijuana. In 1965,
the number of aliens caught at the border was 110,000. By 1996, that
number had risen to 1,650,000, and is sure to keep rising because of
the increases in both Mexicans being smuggled and the number of Border
Patrol agents trained and hired. The militarized border, created by
the United States in the 1920s, produces intense individual dramas
every day. All along the border people wait for dark, when they will
try to cross the border, evade the guards, and reach safety with
family and friends on the othe...
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...or San Diego, "discriminatory" and "against freedom." What
make Fox's statements particularly galling are reports that Mexico
consistently violates the rights of illegal immigrants crossing its
own southern border from Central and South America. The State
Department's February Human Rights Practices report cites abuses at
all levels of the Mexican government, and charges that Mexican police
and immigration officials not only abuse illegal immigrants, but
actually participate in trafficking them. I think if President Fox is
serious about helping to reduce illegal immigration and its various
related problems, he should look in his own back yard. Another good
step would be to acknowledge the United States' right to defend its
borders and demonstrate perhaps a little less disdain for the rule of
law north of the border.
In Borderlands, the realities of what happens by the border instill the true terror that people face every day. They are unable to escape and trapped in a tragic situation. After reading my three classmates’ papers, I was able to learn a lot more about this piece than I originally encountered just on my own. I was able to read this piece in a completely new light and expand on ideas that I did not even think of.
The article by Rob Guerette is a case study involving the widely-reported increase of immigration into the United States. It tackles migration issues as well as related issues such as border security , security initiatives by individuals.. The article also provides in-depth research about the impact of illegal immigration into the United States including migrant deaths, deaths of non-migrants at the border, border security and the challenges faced by United States border patrol officers. The main purpose of the article was to provide an explanation as to whether the Border Patrol has any effect in saving the lives of people attempting to enter into the United States (Guerette, 2007).
Throughout the book, the author tried to portrays the CBP and ICE as feeding monsters, who always keep the detention center beds filled and reap the federal budget. The thesis revolves around the militarization of the Border Patrol Agency, detention, deportation, humiliation and harassment of illegal immigrants by the agency, erosion of civil liberties, NSA’s privacy violations and a careful research to expose a vast and booming billion dollars industry. He shows that how the entire country has become a militarized border zone, with consequences that affect us all.
Officers would patrol the political boundary, known as line watches, between the two nations. These line watches were ineffective because of the size of their jurisdictions and the sheer size of the borderlands between Mexico and the United States. Soon it became clear to Border Patrol officers that most illegal migrant activity developed in the greater borderlands regions than along the boundary between Mexico and the United States. “Instead of enforcing the boundary between the US and Mexico, BP officers patrolled backcountry trails and conducted traffic stops on borderland roadways to capture unsanctioned Mexican immigrants as they travelled from the border to their final
South Texas in known to be gateway for undocumented people and for the drug cartels to get their merchandise into the U.S. I believe the border here in the South is the easiest to get through because of all the corruption there is. I am not fully aware of this only because of all of the news reports I see on television, but because I have personal experience with this situation. I live in Brownsville Texas, and the border is only miles away. From where I live I can see the border wall and all of the border patrols roaming around at any time of the day. It is a dangerous place to live in because every day there is people crossing the border not knowing whether they are people with good or bad habits. The house next to mine is an abandoned house and I have seen people come in and out of there running cautiously. There has been several times in which I see
Martinez, Oscar. Border People: Life and Society in the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands. (Tucson: The University of Arizona Press, 1994), 232.
The author is using personal experience to convey a problem to his or her audience. The audience of this piece is quite broad. First and foremost, Mexican-Americans just like the author. People who can relate to what the author has to say, maybe someone who has experienced something similar. The author also seems to be seeking out an audience of white Americans who find themselves unaware of the problem at our borders. The author even offers up a warning to white America when she notes, “White people traveling with brown people, however, can expect to be stopped on suspicion they work with the sanctuary movement”(125). The purpose of this writing is to pull out a problem that is hidden within or society, and let people see it for what it is and isn’t.
In 2006, “President George Bush passed the Secure Fence Act where every mile of Yuma’s border with Mexico contained a fence or vehicle barrier” (Jeunesse, 2015). While this had a positive impact for Yuma with reducing the amount of illegal immigrant crossing and smuggling. Many challenges for the Hispanic arose as well. Not only is it the hours of waiting to cross the border and death of those that try to jump the fence that don’t make it but, the impact this has made on the separation of families and society in the united states. Now it is harder for immigrants to get transported to get over the border but to get a job itself in the United states. Those that are legal citizens in Yuma county there are several cases of separation of families that still live in Mexico because they are considered illegal immigrants. Traveling to one another has been a lot more complicated than it was years ago. Many will feel isolated from the other cultures of the world because of the
The increase of border security in general the flow of immigration was redirected to the most remote areas of Arizona. Here in southern Arizona is where the “Devil’s Highway” is found. The devil’s highway is a remote desert with an extensive history of deaths. Many immigrants walk for days in the dessert with little water and no food making it a very dangerous place to loose their lives. In his book: “The Devil’s Highway: A True Story”, Luis Alberto Urrea provides us with a background and the events happening such desert. Urrea mentions that: “The first white known man to die in the desert heat here did it on January 18, 1541” (Urrea 5). This shows that the deaths of immigrants here is nothing new. “Most assuredly, others had died before. As long as...
When we hear discussions or read articles about drug wars, killings, and illegal immigration into the United States, many of us immediately think of Mexico. As a nation, Mexico is a much greater country than these commonly referred to issues. Mexico is a country with a broad history, deep family culture, and an economy fueled by oil and tourism. The United States Department of State (USDS) offers a broad range of information on countries outside the US, including Mexico. I found a wealth of information about Mexico through the USDS Background Note provided on their website located at www.state.gov. I will outline for you the key information found in this report, and others, related to the Mexican economy, culture, and more.
Dougherty, Jon E. 2004 “Illegal: The Imminent Threat Posed by Our Unsecured U.S.-Mexico Border” Publisher: Thomas Nelson.
Mexican immigration in the early 1900's was a huge issue that impacted the United States. States in areas such as urban population, employment and many other areas. The mass number of Mexican immigrants that migrated to the United States from Mexico were at nearly half million. between the years of 1920 and 1929. Mexicans left their native land and moved to the United States not only to achieve financial prosperity, but to get out of the chaotic environment that Mexico was in at the time due to the Mexican revolution which began in 1910.
Over the years it seems as though our country has become more populated and unsafe from the illegal immigrants and smuggled goods, such as drugs and weapons, which make it into the United States. Although there are many illegal immigrants and contraband that are able to make it into the U.S undetected, there are a significant amount of people and contraband that are caught by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). The CBP is a component of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and was formed in 2003. “It is one of the world’s largest law enforcement organizations and is charged with keeping terrorists and their weapons out of the U.S” (CBP). One of the departments of the CBP is border security, which is a team of individuals that work together to protect our country from “illegal immigrants, narcotics smuggling, and illegal importation” (CBP). Border patrol was established in 1924 and has changed dramatically over the decades. The one aspect that has not changed is “the overall mission to detect and prevent the illegal entry of aliens into the U.S” (CBP). The border patrol is responsible for patrolling the 6,000 miles of Mexican and Canadian land borders and 2,000 miles of coastal waters. According to CBP, “In 2013 420,789 nationwide illegal aliens were apprehended and 2.9 million pounds of drugs were seized.” As one could tell, there is a significant amount of illegal immigrants and smuggled goods coming into the U.S. However, the number of illegal immigrants that have been seized is lower than it has been in the past, but I still believe that having a strong border security is necessary in continuing to keep immigrants from trying to come into the U.S illegally and transporting illegal goods. “The primary goal of bo...
The Mexican-American border barriers were originally built as part of a three-pronged approach to diminish illicit contraband, drug smuggling, and illegal immigrants. This operation would curtail drug transport routes from Central America. Three headquarters were established along the Unites States border: operation gatekeeper in California, Operation Hold-the-Line in Texas, and Operation Safeguard in Arizona. These strategically placed headquarters have done an outstanding job securing our borders the past decade, however with drug smuggling on the rise, they require much more support from the government. Regrettably, adversaries of the barriers claim that they are more of a political gambit to instigate foreign affairs and a complete waste of taxpayers’ money. These opponents see the United States-Mexico barrier as an unsuccessful deterrent to illegal immigrants and unwanted drugs that ultimately and inaptly endangers the security and wellbeing of immigrants seeking refuge in the States.
How complicated can it be to secure the borderland? Nearly 2,000 miles and five states form the Southern border of the United States. Although the nation puts a lot of effort and resources on trying to secure the border, the Southern border remains as one of the most conflictive, active and violent borders in the world. The U.S.-Mexican border is very problematic: Thousands of people try to cross it everyday, violence is generated by the Mexican cartels, and there is an increase on human trafficking. The Border Patrol and the U.S. government face many great challenges, as the cartels become more powerful and corruption increases.