Introduction
The United States government should make it a priority to secure the border because of national security and defense. Illegal immigration has done more harm than good to the country.
Many measures have been put to place to prevent the violation of immigration laws as well as to protect the sovereignty of the nation. One method that has been adopted as a strategy to combat illegal immigration is border security. This report will focus on the issue of body security, its pros, and compare it with other strategies meant to deal with illegal immigration.
Border Security
Border security is a major measure that has been put in place to stop illegal immigration. This is due to the fact that tens of thousands of immigrants are getting in the country each year illegally. This is why the government has put its focus on border control. The government has in turn put a lot of resources and money so as to combat this issue and ensure the implementation of its policies.
These resources have been used to fund and come up with innovations that are meant to stop the large influx of immigrants into the country. Technological systems have also been developed that screen passengers at the entry points so as to prevent people from entering the country illegally.
A lot of effort has been used in trying to prevent illegal border crossing. Different approaches have been used together so as to ensure this. Some of these methods include the construction of fences.
The set-up of high tech radar systems, ground sensors, an increase of agents who are meant to guard the border day and night, and also an aerial vehicle. The attempt to create a virtual fence at the border failed due to the problem it was facing. It was very expensive and would be able to experience technical failures.
The other reason for the need to stop illegal immigration is that the Illegal aliens are weighing down many systems in the country. These systems range from education, healthcare, law enforcement, insurance etc. The massive influx is also costing the citizens jobs as the illegal aliens provide cheap labor to some companies. This is why the companies opt to hire them because they cut costs (Kowalski, 2011).
Pros of border security
Border security is more effective as it deals with the problem at the root. It is a preventive measure as it aims at ensuring that the illegal aliens do not get in the country. This strategy is easier and more efficient than the other methods which are used to deal with them after they have entered the country.
Policies like ending birth right citizenship will not be an issue as the illegal aliens would not even be in a position to have an offspring in the country, because they will not get the opportunity to enter the country. The same applies to the other control measure of not giving amnesty to the illegal aliens. If this problem is solved at the root there would be no need for these other control measures.
It will also allow the control of access to the country. The fence put in place will control the number of entry points to be used in entering the country. This limitation of access will go a long way in making sure that only those people who are supposed to get in the country are allowed in.
Through the different border crossing preventive measures that have been put in place many people will not want to risk as it is now harder to get in the country. Before this strategy many people would risk getting in the country as it only entailed walking right through, but now it is not that easy.
A border fence will make it harder for immigrants to get into the country illegally. This will in turn slow down the number of illegal aliens in the country. This will also aid in the prevention of other problems associated with illegal immigration. These problems include the prevention of illegal drugs from entering the country and job security .The measures that have been put in place to counter border crossing have shown success.
The physical barriers and technological innovations have increased the apprehension of the people attempting to cross the border. From the implementation of this strategy thousands of immigrants trying to cross the border have been apprehended.
Although it has led to the apprehension of thousands, the number of arrests due to border crossing has gone down meaning that less people are able to penetrate the systems that have been put in place.
Border security strategies have adopted various means to provide enough personnel to aid in patrolling the border. Some of these strategies are border militarization and civilian border patrols. This is a major boost to border security because there is need for more people to aid in border patrol.
This will make the strain on border patrol less. The military aids in performing its purpose of protecting the public by doing this. The deployment of troops will aid in protecting the country from the illegal aliens who could cause harm to the country. The citizens who volunteer at the borders also show their patriotism by helping the country in dealing with the threat of illegal immigration.
This is also evident in the fact that after border security was made stricter, criminal activity in the US has been eliminated in some fields while it has been decreased tremendously in others. The border before this measure was porous and that is why it was used by many drug traffickers and terrorists. They exploited this gap by using it to smuggle things to the country as they could easily get in and out undetected.
Nowadays it is effective in the prevention of drug smuggling into the country. Border fences have proven to be effective in other countries. This is evident in Israel as terrorist attacks reduced by 95% after the set up of a border fence. This proves that less people could enter the country illegally.
A majority of illegal aliens in the country enter the country through the border. The other immigrants who enter the country legally and have expired visas make up a small fraction of the statistics.
Close to half a million illegal aliens enter the country every year. This is after one million are apprehended at the border. The border control measures serve a great deal in trying to prevent this problem from getting worse than it already is (Kowalski, 2010).
Border security vs. other control measures
Border crossing aims at preventing other problems that are as a result of illegal immigration. Most of the other measures to stop illegal immigration serve to control the problem not to prevent it. Some of these control measures are;
Ending birthright citizenship
Ending birth right citizenship is not very effective when it comes to stopping immigration. There are many countries that do not have birth right citizenship but the number of illegal immigration is very high. Illegal immigration cannot be prioritized as a strategy for combating this issue. The country has in fact benefited significantly from birth right citizenship.
This has been through the taxes they pay, the children granted citizenship, have grown up to join the army and they have been elected to offices of power and even participated in sports. The country will lose these benefits if they are to remove this law.
The changing of this law will not be easy and will result in the loss of a lot of money in trying to implement it. It is also going to affect a number of processes in the country. Some processes such as getting a passport, social security number etc. will also be made more complicated due to this .
No amnesty with harsher penalties for illegal immigrants
This measure prevents the giving of amnesty in the form of citizenship and aims at instead issuing more severe penalties, with an aim of curbing and stopping illegal immigration . This measure is formed on the basis that one should not be awarded for committing a crime. The immigrants have already broken the law by getting in the country illegally.
This policy is also fair to those who have legally entered the country, and followed and passed all the legal and administrative procedures.
This is why strict policies should be put in place so as to discourage them from entering the country and this can greatly be achieved through imposing penalties for the law breakers and removing all incentives to promote them (Roarty, 2011).This method is more effective than ending birth right citizenship but less effective as compared to stopping border crossing.
Conclusion
Illegal immigration is a very big problem to the country. Out of all the measures that are being put in place to combat this, border security measures should be prioritized as it accounts for the most number of illegal aliens who are in the country.
Recent findings have shown that the implementation of border security prevention measures, have resulted in the prevention and decrease of thousands of immigration cases. It is more effective than strategies such as ending birthright citizenship and not giving out amnesty to illegal aliens, and offering harsher penalties to those who violate this law.
Border security should however be supported by this strategies as they aid in making border crossing less due to the discouraging of illegal immigration. The cost to be incurred in ensuring the prevention of border crossing is minimal compared to the thousands the government loses as a result of illegal immigration. The country loses more money from illegal immigration.
Stopping illegal immigration will result in increased security in the country, less strain on the social amenities and a decrease in the crime rate. This is why border security which is the most effective strategy of stopping illegal immigration should be prioritized .
References
Huisenga, S. (2011). Gingrich Voices Support for S.C. Immigration Law. Web.
Johnson, F. (2010). Norquist Says Ending Birthright Citizenship Is a Tax. Web.
Kowalski, D. M. (2011). Border Security After 9/11: Ten Years of Waste, Immigrant Crackdowns and New Drug Wars. Web.
Kowalski, D. M. (2010). Border Security: Immigration Enforcement Between Ports of Entry. Web.
Kowalski, D. M. (2010). Border Security: The Role of the U.S. Border Patrol. Web.
Roarty, A. S. Q. (2011). Numerous Punches Thrown in Spirited Iowa Debate. Web.
Sternstein, A. (2012). DHS Requests Bids for Second Try at Virtual Fence. Web.
Strohm, C. (2011). McCain, Kyl Girding for Border Security Fight. Web.