Border Security and homeland defense
In the United states we face a modern-day crises drug trafficking, and illegal migration. It has been widely thought that these issues had gotten far worse after the September 11, attacks in 2001. The U.S started to take a closer look at immigration and airport policies it started tightening Airport regulations and passing stricter immigration laws. The Bush Administration in 2003 planned a budget of 11 billion U.S dollars. A planned amount of 380 million dollars was determined to be used on a highly advanced visa tracking system, in addition a planned budget of 619 million dollars was planned for Customs Service Inspection Service. In addition, we have also faced a war with drug trafficking, over the last two decades U.S border patrol was able to able to apprehend illegal drugs such as methamphetamine, cocaine, heroin and marijuana. Furthermore, In the United States it is important to preserve security and homeland defense against illegal migration and drug smuggling. However, building a border wall between Mexico and the United states would be highly ineffective because it would be financially detrimental to the Country. There are also security measures in place in the United States that would benefit greatly if we added additional resources and procedures.
Dating back in history nations have always had issues with migrants and borders being built to fend off said intruders. These issues have always been a problem they are nothing new take Rome for example when Rome built a wall called the Hadrian wall in second century AD, they did not see the wall as being effective nor did they see it as a diversion instead they saw it as a frontier more than anything. Romans believed that if they built this wall it would at least cast out barbarians, and ancient Scottish. Another example is the wall of china it spans at 4000 miles and like America's border it was designed to keep intruders out. Although China's wall took much more effort and resources to make it span out twice as what the planned American border would be experts argue the wall would be effective. However, did all past walls work the way there were designed? The Berlin wall was built for reversed reasons to keep the citizens of the country in those that built it claimed it would protect east Berliners from "them" As Williams pg29 America's border fence. One valuable lesson we can closely compare to world history is that walls don't work all the time the romans eventually left the Hadrian wall and the berlin wall fell.
Next in America's early 19th century the wall between Mexico and the United States was hardly a line of defense California, Arizona and New Mexico had stones barbed wire and even strings in Texas the Rio Grande served as a border because it divided both countries without much effort. Immigration and America's population grew in huge numbers in the late 1940's and early 1950's. The main reason was that America was in its second World War and America welcomed cheap labor and economic growth. However, Joseph Swing a commissioner of Naturalization decided that in the mid 1950's to start a program called the Bracero program that was called "Operation Wetback" thousands upon thousands of illegal immigrants and even some that were American were deported because of the color of their skin. In 1965 the program was shut down but not before making it more difficult for legal passage in the United States. Congress in 1952 favored a specific quota system where it largely accepted immigrants from northern Europe however not those that were thought to be black and that resided in the Caribbean.
Additionally, the situation is more complex than most Americans tend to perceive. We have had these issues for far longer than most of us have been alive to see the tragic events unfold in September 11, 2001. The war on drugs didn't make its "official public appearance" addressed by an American president since almost a century ago. President Nixon in 1973 had stated "war" pg 2(War on Drugs, CQ Researcher) on the heavily weighed drug issue making an anti-drug campaign were federal spending was used. Although President Nixon was the very first president to address this issue officially. Drugs have been around for far longer, In 1912 Criminal- justice jurisdiction over drugs such as narcotics and cocaine were finally being recognized so much so that the United stated partnered with Hauge Opium Convention. This Convention was focused to seize these drugs. Despite the war on drugs illegal immigration has increased drastically since 1990 when only 3.5 million immigrants where estimated compared to the 11 million now. Historically speaking the bases of our immigration system began in 1965 where the United States preferred immigrants from all over the world whom had family In the U.S. According to Peter Brimelow "Immigration didn't even really exist as a big issue until 1965 because we just weren't letting that many people in" Brimelow (Illegal immigration CQ, Researcher) this was decided by congress the quotas for allowing new comers in were stricter from the 1920s to the 1950's were there was only 4 million immigrants that had come in during that time.
It is estimated to cost the construction of the border wall between the U.S and Mexico 5.1-5.9 billion USD. (What Trump's plan says: The Great wall of Racism page32) That's not including maintenance. Other experts like Ali Noorani executive director, National immigration forum estimate that the expense would be more an additional 5 billion more adding to the grand total out to today present day and costs of about 10 billion dollars if not more. Ali Noorani also argues that our limited financial resources should be invested at the ports of entry. According to the department of justice that's where the majority of the drugs are smuggled. It would be significantly costlier to tax payers because of the enormous financial amount needed to cover such a cost. Furthermore, Dan Stein a pro wall advocate whom represents F.A.I.R as their chair president cited that in 2009 The Obama administration tried to approach a similar project with strategic border fencing trying to prevent illegal migration and instead Homeland security tried a high-tech strategic approach however it failed and wasted 1 billion dollars of our tax payer's money. Who's to say that this costly project won't fail as well and even more financial means that the tax payers already don't have, will be wasted.
At the present moment there are 19,346 agents on duty, less than the amount needed which should be at least 21,370 (Trump wants to beef up Border Security, Business Insider) The staffing shortage and standard requirement for these agents is to check a maximum of 10 seconds per driver on an estimated 9000 vehicles per day. (Trump wants to beef up Border Security, Business Insider) My early research concludes there is clear present problem looming over this unknown territory between the borderlands of the U.S and Mexico. We are lacking a substantial workforce unfortunately, according to Flynn whom works for the council of foreign relations said that there has been a decrease in staff members they are also understaffed agents working at the border between Canada and seaports. Agent Acosta had stated that she had worked patrolling the border since 1970. Acosta disclosed that those that Security personnel in charge of overseeing access points are not trained sufficiently enough and are underpaid. She also stated that 600,000 cargo containers come into American seaports every single day and the staff is only able to inspect 2 percent.
There should be a more rigorous check on migrants who overstay their visas and how they obtain their visas. Although there have been immigration laws in place since the early 1900's it is important to continue to update security measures for those trying to come in. For example, in 1986 two brothers from the middle east where able to squeak by with an immigration reform program called "Agricultural workers program for farmworkers." These two men illegally took advantage of the program as their intentions were fraudulent and had another agenda in mind. They were able to obtain visas through flaws in the INS inspection system. The two men named Mohamed and Mahmud Abouhalima were later captured for the world trade center bombing in 1993. Our Immigration system is so broken at the moment that most illegal immigrants fly across the border in our very own airlines over the border over staying their visas the estimation is 41 percent.
Some experts believe that the wall would be effective in reducing these ongoing border issues. Despite the overwhelming evidence Dan Stein, president of (FAIR) Which stands for Federation for American Immigration Reform critiqued the Obama Administration stating, "Donald J. Trump's call for a border wall reflects a widely shared sentiment that the nation must be willing to do what is appropriate and necessary to end the daily disrespect of our border and sovereignty - whether by smugglers, brutal drug cartels, rogue elements of the Mexican army or those entering illegally." Stein U.S Mexico Relations CQ, researcher) consequently Stein's reasoning is that if we build a wall regardless of how long it will be he believes that with our robust immigration laws it should make it easier for America's proper role in enforcing immigration law.
Next, the border wall would bring environmental issues and disrupt the lives of border residents that reside in that area. The planned 18-foot fence would cover 2000 miles of rough and dangerous terrain that would have to go through a mountain and personal property for those living in the border. A local veteran whom served in the marines by the last name of Odle explained that he has actually has seen more illegal migration in regard to the current wall near his home he even has seen people climbing it. In addition, residents in several Texas areas are apprehensive of having their land on the wrong side of the fence. The planned wall would also disrupt wilderness areas, Native American Lands and logistical challenges like having to go though rough mountain terrain and The Rio Grande. Native residents in that land argue it would block the right of passage and ceremonial practices used on those specific areas where the wall is planning to be placed. In addition, the Sierra Club and Defenders of Wildlife also decided to sue Homeland Security because they fear that this will disrupt access to water and habitat for endangered animals also the construction could harm the plants surrounding the area for example the protected Saguaro cactus in Arizona. It is important to keep in mind the logistics of this border and how it threatens our agriculture.
Consequently, building the border wall would hurt relations with Canada and Mexico. Mexico has officially disagreed with the ideal of the expansion of a border fence. Mexico and the united states have collaborated together in combating drug smuggling cartels, and drug traffickers. Both Mexico and Canada happen to be the United States biggest trade partners in addition to being the third largest oil supplier for the U.S. It is inevitable that they also happen to be tied in to NAFTA. It's not surprise that Canada and Mexico would feel disappointed with United States despite the solid partnership they built over the years. As Williams an expert on Immigration relations explains "The policy elites in both Canada and Mexico are increasingly exasperated with the United States, and therefore a whole host of relationships are jeopardized by a feeling of ill will that characterizes the current situation." (Williams 27) NAFTA stands for North American Free Trade Agreement it came into effect in 1994 and became one of the largest free trade platforms to trade goods by countries it is because of NAFTA that Canada, Mexico and the United States grew economically and prospered. It is important to maintain a healthy bond with both Mexico and Canada because it would cause a great economic impact where products such as oil and produce would rise.
Finally, drugs that are being smuggled into the United States are doing so through other methods then over a border wall. According to Business Insider drugs such as Methamphetamine, Cocaine, Heroin, Fentanyl and other dangerous synthetic opioids are coming in through parcel packages directly from China and from China through Canada. Another method small volumes that is are coming in through mail from you guessed it China however these contain a higher grade and thus are more valuable. Unfortunately, the United States postal system is so behind on technology's ability to detect most of it. Although China is not the only country these drugs are supplied from they do come from the south west border's points of entries as well and if not there as discussed above through sea ports, points of entry in cargo containers. Currently President Trump has spoken out about Border patrol "We're putting the National Guard and military at the border," Trump told reporters on Monday. "And we need a wall. Whether you're a Republican or Democrat, we need a wall, and it'll stop your drug flow. It'll knock the hell out of the drug flow, and it'll stop a lot of people that we don't want in this country from coming into our country." (Trump) In order to have a better grasp on apprehending drug smuggling and illegal migration is not solely to focus on a wall we must focus on our immigration system as whole it is important to closely examine each process thoroughly.
In the end, it is important to evaluate all of the facts before one great measure can be taken into consideration. To prevent further depletion of our economical resources and tax payer money we should put more of an emphasis on our immigration system, means of entry though out entry points. This isn't to say we should not have any form of security or protection against illegal drug smuggling and illegal migration but to take a look back at our history and take into consideration others who tried this method through trial and error. As a whole our government should take into account that we need to improve the methods we already have in place like funding a stronger work force, updating more technology across the border, updating our postal service through a more through security process and lastly improving our immigration laws.
(Review note: To of things I struggle most with is a good introduction and the body of my paper. When it comes to the intro it is hard for me to devise an excellent thesis and instruction that will pave the way through my paper. The other part that I struggle with is my body sometimes I feel like I get writers block and feel like I have nothing more to write about essentially, I know it's not true, but it does consume so much time for me to formulate a good smooth transion body for my paper to really deliver a punch. Lastly, I have struggled with citations in the past but felt I have gotten much better. please help me with any feedback thank you)