Introduction
The issue of border protection in the United States has always been contentious. Some people feel that protection across the border should be reinforced while others think that there is no need to strengthen security as it only contributes to more problems. Consequences of not securing our borders have a more significant price than we can imagine.
These consequences are called terrorism. If we increase our border and coastal security without interfering with the process of transporting legal goods and people through our borders, it will cut down on some of the problems we face. We should be able to do so without putting a strain on our relationship with any of our southern or northern countries. This paper will examine the security of U.S. borders, their consequent pros, and cons, the current state of security and possible solutions to security problems.
Border Security Pro’s
The frequency and amount of drugs that enter the United States have risen over the years. One of the reasons attributed to the level of unlawfulness has been cited as the increase in the number of illegal immigrants that bring along with them the illicit drugs. Due to the strictness and thoroughness of checking, conducted at airports and other legal entry points like ports, it has been cited that some terrorists use the illegal entry points to get into the United States (Alper, Day & Loucky, 2008).
Once such individuals get into the United States, their primary task is usually the perpetration of violent crimes against the people of the United States of America. So security at the border is seen as reducing the number of illegal immigrants that want to get into the country. Individuals cite that if people want to get into the country, they should do so in a legal manner using the correct routes such as applying for a green card.
One of the most essential functions of the security wall and measures that are taken to protect the borders is the prevention of overburdening of the taxpayer. When illegal immigrants come into the United States, the government has to take care of them through the social welfare programs that have been out in place.
Education and health care systems that are already strained with the increase in the population of American nationals is strained even more since the government has to cater for people that had not been taken into consideration when the national budget was being planned.
For the longest time, Arizona State has been one of the most used entry points by illegal immigrants. Fencing of the Southern and Northern borders has been cited as one of the most efficient ways of ensuring that terrorists do not get into the United States. About 8,500 illegal immigrants were caught in Arizona as they attempted to enter the United States in 2008 (Forest, 2006). This represents a vast number of individuals that might include terrorists, smugglers and other kinds of criminals.
All these individuals also constitute a percentage of people that were not budgeted for in the financial year that they attempted to enter the United States illegally. Illegal immigrants strain the available facilities and cause the government to overspend since they do not pay taxes. All the inhabitants of a country should pay taxes to contribute to government income for public expenditure. To pay taxes, an individual would have to be legally registered.
Proper implementation of border security would promote appropriate trade between nations such as between Canada and the United States on the Northern part of the country. The security measures would also encourage the collection of taxes and therefore provide a source of income for the two countries.
Leaders of the two countries could put their political agendas and differences aside to promote security and international trade for the good of the nationals of the countries involved. One of the most significant benefits of cooperation between the two nations would be the sharing of intelligence about criminals.
Cons of Border Security
The issue of border security has been criticized as contributing to the straining of taxpayer’s since the construction of the border security wall has proved to be very expensive. “Taxpayers for Common Sense” has given the estimates of constructing and maintaining the fence across the borders to be between about $350 million to $ 1.7 billion for every mile. “The Taxpayers for common sense” is a watch group that monitors the spending activities of the government and advocates for the correct spending of taxpayers’ money.
The group also estimated that the costs were expected to rise especially with the poor performance of America’s economy. The group cited an example of a $ 20 million security border project that had been implemented on the Arizona border but was abandoned halfway because it was claimed that the security equipment did not work as it should have and not in the way that it was expected to.
The surveillance gadgets had been highly credited that they would reduce the need for actual officers patrolling the borders (Alper, Day, & Loucky, 2008). However, illegal immigrants still got into the country when those surveillance gadgets had been installed making them seem very unreliable.
Environmental bodies and agencies feel that the border fence is doing and will continue to do more harm than good. When barriers are put up, animals cannot migrate from one region as freely as they want. This might interfere with the natural ecosystem as it might result in interfering with animals’ natural mating or feeding habits. For example, some animals might migrate to another part of the desert so that they can mate or because there is no food in the region where they are.
Therefore, by putting up a wall, the government would be acting as a hindrance to feeding or mating for the animals. By completing the process of putting up the fence, the United States government will have contravened many lands, and environmental laws and most environmentalists feel that the reason given for putting up the wall is not sufficient to justify the damage that will be caused.
The apprehension techniques used in the curbing of crime across the border have been criticized as being too harsh. A few officers have been charged or faced disciplinary measures because they used too much force when dealing with illegal immigrants.
The immigrants have complained that they would like the same treatment that is accorded to the United States nationals to be granted to them because even they (illegal immigrants) deserve to be treated with dignity as related to international human rights. In the year 2005, two border agents; Compean and Ramos shot and wounded an individual who was trying to illegally get into the United States (Forest, 2006). The illegal alien was attempting to cross the border while driving a van that was later discovered to have been carrying marijuana.
The two agents jailed for a minimum of ten years each. Border patrol agents also have to do hazardous work as most of the time they get shot at from across the Mexican border.
There have been many cases whereby Border patrol agents have been assassinated because of doing their work effectively. Hired people usually kill the agents. Drug cartels do the hiring because the agents hamper with their smuggling operations. Supposedly, at one time in the year 2008, there had been 2 million dollars bounty placed on the head of a border patrol agent.
One Border patrol agent; Rosas died under such circumstances in the line of duty. Such incidents usually contribute to misunderstandings between countries. Most of the time the countries involved start blaming each other while in a true sense there are individuals that are responsible for such actions and not whole countries. Such blaming attitudes might hamper the conducting of proper international trade which would be of benefit to both countries.
The Border patrol agent occupation has also been identified as one of the most dangerous careers in the country, especially in the Federal branch of the government. About four agents have drowned while in the line of duty, about 30 have had accidents that involve automobiles.
Vehicle assault, stabbing, motorcycle accidents, and gunfire are some of the major causes of death for the agents. The disadvantage is that most of the agents are stationed to work alone in large areas and they are vulnerable to attack by criminals. Most of the criminals are very determined since they feel that the only way for them to make money is through their illegal trade.
Security threats to the United States of America
After the September 11 attacks on the United States, a few of the government agencies that have been tasked with the provision of security to the United States were reorganized (Ganster & Lorey, 2008). The action was taken to ensure that all the security agencies had more explicit views of their roles in security control and provision. The Department of Homeland Security is one of the agencies, whose primary functions is that of ensuring that the United States is secure from external threats.
External threats are usually posed by terrorists who mostly have an international background. The Department of justice is linked to the Federal Bureau of Investigations and the Border patrol agency. These agencies have the role of gathering intelligence in the United States and enforcing laws on border security. These and more agencies in the United States had their missions and objectives re-organized after the September 11 attacks.
The Department of Homeland security has also involved the curbing of terrorist activity. Osama bin Laden was one of the leaders of the most notorious terror groups that had claimed the responsibility of organizing and implementing terror attacks against United States nationals and interests. Hezbollah, Hamas, Al-Qaeda, and Mujahidin are some of the terror groups that have been found responsible for terror attacks that have been conducted on US soil.
These terror groups are very organized, and their networks are spread all over the world. After the September 11 attacks, the US government got very serious in shutting down the operations of the groups. The United States government secured the necessary intelligence about the whereabouts of the Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. The leader was killed in May 2011 as he resisted arrest (Johnson, 2010).
Funding is an essential factor in the carrying out of terror attacks, and the restriction of the attacks has contributed to the reduction of those attacks. As a result, most of the terror organizations have now targeted American interests that are outside of the United States, where they know security is not as tight and compelling as in the United States. Many terror group leaders and associated members have also been arrested and questioned for the acquisition of intelligence by the United States government.
Security of US borders
The United States-Canada border has been criticized as having no protection and being neglected by government security agents. Guns, narcotics, and illegal drugs have been described as the most common forms of substances that are smuggled across the border. In 2005, three men were arrested while they tried to complete the construction of a tunnel that would help them hide illegal substances between the United States and Canada.
The underground tunnel had been constructed between the city of Washington in the United States and the city of British Columbia in Canada. A high number of migrants are also reported to be smuggled between the two borders. A lot of commodities are also supposedly transported between the borders which results in the loss of millions of dollars for both countries (Ganster & Lorey, 2008). The money that is lost could be used in the improvement of facilities in the two countries or on the border such as roads.
The Border patrol was enacted in the United States in 1924. But it was not until the 90’s decade that the act was fully enforced. Statistics show that the efforts of the Border patrol agents together with officers deployed from the military resulted in a reduction in the number of illegal immigrants especially those that smuggled illicit drugs into the United States.
The number of individuals that attempted to cross the border has been cited as having decreased from 600,000 to 153,000; an improvement which has been made through the construction of the border security wall. The border at San Diego is especially notorious for being used as a crossing point by illegal immigrants. This might be cited in support of putting up a fence as an effective means of stopping illegal immigrants from entering the country.
Solutions to the US border security concerns
The focus should be made towards the curbing of organized crime that focuses on the distribution of illegal drugs in border towns in the northern and southern sides of the United States. The illegal drug trade has been cited as being rampant mostly on the border towns of Mexico and the United States like in El Paso, Chihuahua, and Texas.
The judicial systems of both countries should collaborate so that they can put away organized criminals that supply and distribute illegal drugs between the borders. The police and other government-owned intelligent agencies should share the information that they hold concerning criminals.
The shared information can be utilized in the coming up of tact and strategy to put away the criminals for a long time. The use of the members of the community to drive away organized drug criminals has also been proposed as a means of ridding the two countries of organized criminals.
The members of the communities could help with the identification of the members of the drug cartels. Most of the drug trade has been cited as being successful because organized cartels run them. Identifying the people that run cartels can lead to the shutting down of the illegal activities of such groups that negatively impact the community (Johnson, 2010).
More border patrol agents should be assigned at the Canadian United States border because of the vulnerability in that part of the two countries. Operations at the United States and Mexican border have been tightened, and most criminals must be aware of that fact so some of them must have resulted to the Canadian United States border as a means of smuggling terror attack tools and themselves into the United States. Many commodities pass through the Canadian United States border that evades tax.
Establishing of a border patrol agency could lead to an efficient means of collecting tax on these commodities and the money raised from the tax could be used to run an efficient border patrol agency. The agency should be organized so that it is composed of members of law enforcement from both Canada and the United States (Warner, 2010). Canada and the United States should ensure that they share intelligence that they hold concerning criminals. This would fasten up the apprehension and lock up of many criminals for a long time.
Conclusion
The paper has successfully looked at the pros and cons of border security. One of the most significant advantages that would be obtained from the border security would be the creation of a safe environment from terrorists for US nationals. Measures to ensure that the highest possible security is available to the US nationals is paramount especially after the terror attacks that the nation has faced over the last few years and after the September 11 attacks. One of the biggest cons of border security is the expected destruction of the environment.
Putting up and maintaining the wall between US and Mexico has been cited as being an effective measure of ensuring that no illegal migrants or commodities enter or leave the United States. The move has also been cited as one that would heavily burden the taxpayers. The United States has suffered from terror attacks from extremist groups.
After the September 11 terror attacks, the government established the Homeland security; a department formed to implement measures that would guarantee security to its people. The department has been successful in the apprehension of many terror group leaders and supporters.
Security at the US Northern and Southern borders is a significant concern that should be seriously looked into to ensure that the US nationals are secure in the country (Warner, 2010). Communities that live close to the borders should get involved in the reporting and helping in the uprooting of illegal activities from the community.
Reference List
Alper, D., Day, J. C., & Loucky, J. (2008). Transboundary policy challenges in the Pacific border regions of North America. Calgary: University of Calgary.
Forest, J. (2006). Homeland security: Protecting America’s targets. Westport: Praeger Security International.
Ganster, P., & Lorey, D. (2008). The U.S.-Mexican border into the twenty-first century. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield.
Johnson, B. (2010). Bridging national borders in North America: Transnational and comparative histories. Durham: Duke Univ. Press.
Warner, J. (2010). U.S. border security: A reference handbook. Santa Barbara, Calif: ABC-CLIO.