The policy of USA-Mexican border reinforcement

                                   

In this article I would like to write about anti-immigration policy. I decided to choose this topic as it has an important influence on children of undocumented immigrants. As the illegal immigrants spend most of the time working or trying to find the job their child are deprived of the parents’ attention. Moreover, as it was demonstrated in the American film called “A better life” directed by Chris Weitz, parents struggle to keep their children away from immigration agents. As a result these children grow up in the atmosphere of hiding and with the feeling that they are offenders. They do not have any possibilities to feel that they are not oppressed by the society. Even if they were born in America and became also citizens, the society would not allow them to forget that they do not belong here. Especially these feelings are painful for the teenagers.  

As many other issues connected with policy or lack of it, this problem was worsened by it. Thus, The United States spent around 20 billion dollars on creating and improving border control in the past decade, but instead of the expected decrease in immigration level it has caused a significant number of deaths (Chomsky, A. 2007).

This strategy forces the immigrants to cross the border in more undeveloped, dangerous for life areas with extreme geographical and climate hazards. As a result, more than four thousand people, including children, lost their lives crossing the border. (Chacon, J.A, & Danis, M., 2006)

Although, there is no accurate data presenting exact numbers of people who cross the US-Mexican border every year; many statistics show that the border reinforcement has not decreased the immigrants’ attempts to cross the border.  This strategy has not achieved the expected results, because it has not been focused on the main people’s reasons to leave their homes, families and to immigrate to the foreign country. The only result of the border reinforcement is the increased number of deaths among immigrants (Chacon, J.A, & Danis, M., 2006).

Despite the evidence that reinforcement of the US-Mexico border is not effective, the current legislative proposals describe new innovations that would intensify the border policy. The Sensenbrenner-King Bill (HR 4437) offers to build five border fences in California and Arizona and to invest in it $2.2 billion. This proposal also recommends creating new, more effective technologies for the apprehending illegal migrants on the border (Chacon, J.A, & Danis, M.,2006).

Although, it is obvious nowadays that the attempts to control illegal immigration do not have any positive results, America keeps reinforcing the border because of the some reasons.

First, the border reinforcement is considered to be the visible attempt to defend the country from illegal immigration. So, this strategy is an easy move for the politicians to demonstrate that the government pays attention to the immigrant issue and makes an effort to solve the problem. Moreover, more than half of the American population has the opinion that the government should spent more money for the reinforcement of the USA-Mexican border. The second reason is that the border control became a national symbol after the tragedy happened on the 11^th September in 2011. The border reinforcement is considered to show that the USA is ready to fight with terrorism all the time even if it does not improve the situation. The third reason is that America needs immigrant labor. Undocumented immigrants are ready for any work with poor labor conditions and low salary. This makes illegal immigrants desirable for American businesses. That is why, there is a significant number of people who are not interested in increasing the number of legal jobs for immigrants (Skinner, D, 2005).

This policy has very negative influence on the youth. More I study about this problem more I think that the government worsen the situation. However, this policy also reflected opinion of many people in Americana. I can’t agree that population cannot influence on the government to change policy. It seems to me that there are much more people who are against this policy than citizens who support it. However, most of them are silent. Meanwhile people who agree with this are very active and propagandize their ideas. What should we do in this case? Maybe to start with ourselves?

References:

1.       Chacon, J.A., Danis, M. (2006). No one is illegal: fighting racism and state violence on the US-Mexico border. Chicago, Illinois: Haymarker Dooks.

2.      Chomsky, A. (2007). They Take Our Jobs! : And 20 Other Myths about Immigration. Boston, MA, USA: Beacon Press.

3.      Skinner, D. (2006). Illegal Immigration Across the U.S.-Mexico Border. Carlisle: Carlisle Barracks.