WK4 CASE STUDY CJ453
- Chapter Four
The United States has two extensive land borders with two other countries: Mexico and Canada. The border with Mexico is 1,969 miles long, and extends from Imperial Beach, California, and Tijuana, Baja California, in the west to Matamoros, Tamaulipas, and Brownsville, Texas, in the east. The border with Canada extends from Maine to Washington State and between Canada and Alaska. It is Canada’s only land border. The Canadian border extends for 5,525 miles and the longest international border shared by two countries.
Control of the United States’ borders is a major component of national security and one of the five stated goals of the Department of Homeland Security. The 7500-mile length of the land borders of the United States poses a significant security challenge. Drug and people smugglers, illegal immigrants, terrorists, fugitives, and other criminals benefit from the porous nature of the southern and northern US borders. Each year a conservative estimate of 300,000 immigrants enter the country illegally, adding to the approximately 12 million illegal aliens currently in America (Hoefer, Rytina & Baker, 2009).
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security Bureau of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is directly responsible for securing the nation’s land and water borders. The CBP’s stated mission is to prevent terrorists, their weapons, narcotics, agricultural pests and smuggled goods from entering the country, while also identifying and arresting those with outstanding arrest warrants.
The Border Patrol (a component of CBP) was formed in 1924 and manned by uniformed squads and Texas Rangers as needed. The chief objective is to prevent the entry of illegal alcohol and drugs along the southwestern border of the United States.
Among the challenges CBP faces is the vast terrain across which illegal activity occurs. There are three hundred twenty-seven air, land and seaports of entry, along with seven thousand miles of land border and ninety-five thousand miles of shoreline. This is the primary reason why the CBP has joined forces with the Border Patrol, U.S. Coast Guard, Naval and Air commands. However, when there is a will there is a way and while the current system may stop a percentage of illegal border activity, they are unable to stop it all.
Legal immigration rose quickly following the 1965 passage of the Hart-Cellar Act, that allowed permanent residents and naturalized citizens of America to petition for relatives in Mexico to join them (Kammer, 2015). The numbers of legal immigrants rose sharply in the 1970s, primarily due to Hart-Cellar. The continuing controversy between control of the borders and economic interests increased after passage of the Simpson-Mazzoli Act. Simpson-Mazzoli basically made it unlawful for any person to hire, any alien knowing that person is unable to work legally, or to fail to verify any person hired is able to work legally, or continue to employ an alien knowing he/she is in the country illegally. Simpson-Mazzoli also established a worker verification system, which required; the employer attest the employee’s work status has been verified through an examination of a passport, birth certificate, social security card, alien documentation papers, or other proof; the worker was required by the Act to attest he/she is a legal resident of the United States and is therefore able to work; and, the employer keep records for at least three years, verifying the above. The Simpson-Mazzoli Act also granted amnesty and resident status to certain seasonal agricultural illegal immigrants, as well as to illegal immigrants who had entered the country prior to January 1st, 1982, and who had resided in the United States continuously, since that time (Mees).
The increasing pressure from the border states to “do something” about the illegal immigrants by the federal government was more than matched by the pressure from economic interests to turn a blind eye on the increasing numbers of people coming over the border, looking for work. The illegal immigration supplied cheap labor, performing tasks that many Americans would prefer not doing.
Illegal immigration jumped tremendously in the 1980s and 1990s based on two factors: one was the economic crisis in Mexico in the 1980s that slowed economic growth, and limited the number of jobs and the other was the impact of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The number of Border Patrol apprehensions grew from only a few hundred in the 1960s to more than one million per year during the 1980s to around 1.6 million by the 1990s (Massey, & Pren, 2012).
The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, forever changed the concept of border control, from what was considered to be a matter of general public order to a matter of the highest level of security. All of the hijackers had entered the United States legally, on either tourist or student visas, and some had simply overstayed the limits on the visas, in order to complete their mission.
People can enter the United States legally in many ways. They can enter the country, legally as tourists, as students, as business travelers, or as workers, on short-term work visas. Or, they can immigrate permanently, sponsored by a family member already in this country, or on the basis of employment skills. During 2011, more than 8 million people applied for immigrant or non-immigrant visas to enter the United States. Sixteen million people were admitted into the U.S. under the Visa Waiver Program. In addition, more than 243 million people entered overland via Canada and Mexico (Cato Journal, 2012). It is unknown how many of those people stayed in this country after their legal visas expired.
During the mid-1990s, the Border Patrol was apprehending approximately 600,000 people annually attempting to cross the border from Mexico in both Texas and California, and apprehending about 300,000 people attempting to cross the border into Arizona. Illegal immigration seemingly responded to the tougher enforcement in Texas and California in the mid-1990s by changing to the harsher crossing routes in Arizona. As a result, Arizona apprehensions rose to more than 700,000 and fell in the other two states. With tough enforcement along the Arizona border during the last five years, the apprehension numbers have fallen in all three states. The number of apprehensions during 2011 was the lowest of any year since 1972.
Another factor in the goal of increased border security is the increased pressure to keep potentially dangerous immigrants from reaching the United States by means of an airplane. Any applicant for a visa has to give their fingerprints, have a digital photograph taken, undergo an extensive security background investigation and possibly submit to an interview. The one remaining problem with the current system appears to be a way to consistently track persons overstaying their visas. This, of course, is a big problem, since five of the 9/11 hijackers did exactly that.
A separation barrier or fence is simply a physical means of preventing the free movement of people and vehicles across a border. The U.S. Border Patrol utilizes both physical fencing and vehicle barriers.
The USBP’s San Diego sector extends along the first 66 miles from the Pacific Ocean of the international border with Mexico, and covers approximately 7,000 square miles of territory. This sector features no natural barriers to entry by unauthorized persons. As a result of this geographical reality and in response to the large numbers of unauthorized aliens crossing the border in the area, in 1990 the U.S. Border Patrol began erecting a physical barrier. The ensuing “primary” fence covered the first 14 miles of the border and was constructed of 10-foot high welded steel.
The San Diego fence was completed in 1993, covering the first 14 miles of the border from the Pacific Ocean. In addition to the 14 miles of primary fencing erected in its San Diego sector, the United States Border Patrol maintains stretches of primary fencing in several other sectors along the southwest border, including Campo, CA; Yuma, AZ; Nogales, AZ; Naco, AZ; and El Paso, TX.
In 1996, Congress passed the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA), which gave the Attorney General broad authority to construct barriers along the border and authorized the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) to construct a secondary layer of fencing to buttress the already-completed 14-mile primary fence (LLI, 1996). Construction of the secondary fence stalled after 9.5 miles had been completed due to environmental concerns raised by the California Coastal Commission (CCC). In 2006, Congress passed the Secure Fence Act (modified by Division E of H.R. 2764, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2008 (P.L. 110-161), and directed the DHS to construct five separate stretches of fencing along the southern border, totaling 850 miles.
Besides border fencing, the Border Patrol deploys both vehicle barriers at the border. Vehicle barriers are meant to stop the entry of vehicles into the United States. Temporary vehicle barriers are typically chained together and can be moved to different locations at the USBP’s discretion. Permanent vehicle barriers are embedded in the ground and are meant to remain in one location.
The fence, did not have a discernible impact on the influx of unauthorized aliens coming across the border. As a result of this, Operation Gatekeeper was officially announced in the San Diego sector in 1994. The chief elements of the operation were large increases in the overall manpower of the sector and the deployment of USBP personnel directly along the border to deter illegal entry. The strategic plan called for three tiers of agent deployment.
- The first tier of agents was deployed to fixed positions on the border. The agents in this first tier were charged with preventing illegal entry, apprehending those who attempted to enter, and generally observing the border.
- A second tier of agents was deployed north of the border in the corridors that were heavily used by illegal aliens. The second tier of agents had more freedom of movement than the first tier and were charged with containing and apprehending those aliens who made it past the first tier.
- The third tier of agents were typically assigned to man vehicle checkpoints further inland to apprehend the traffic that eluded the first two tiers.
According to the CBP, the fence, in combination with other USBP enforcement initiatives along the San Diego border region proved to be successful but fiscally and environmentally costly. The concept of a three-tiered fence system was first recommended by a 1993 Sandia National Laboratory study commissioned by the former Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS). The study concluded aliens attempting to enter the United States from Mexico had shown remarkable resiliency in bypassing obstacles in their path and postulated “[a] three-fence barrier system with vehicle patrol roads between the fences and lights will provide the necessary discouragement” (Andreas, 1998)
Congressional Border Barrier Legislation-there has been many pieces of legislation passed in an attempt to control our borders to include:
Section 102 of IIRIRA—Improvement of Barriers at the Border-as originally enacted, Section 102(a) gave the Attorney General broad authority to install additional physical barriers and roads “in the vicinity of the United States border to deter illegal crossings in areas of high illegal entry into the United States.” The phrase “vicinity of the United States border” was not defined in the INA or in immigration regulations. This section also did not stipulate what specific characteristics would designate an area as one of “high illegal entry.” As originally enacted, Section 102(b) mandated the Attorney General construct a barrier in the border area near San Diego, California. Specifically, a three-tiered barrier along the 14 miles of the international land border of the U.S., starting at the Pacific Ocean and extending eastward.
The Secure Fence Act of 2006 (P.L. 109-367) amended IIRIRA Section 102(b) by removing the specific provisions authorizing construction of the San Diego fence and adding provisions authorizing five stretches of two-layered reinforced fencing, totaling roughly 850 miles, along the southwest border. The five stretches of the border that DHS was required by law to fence were the 20 miles around Tecate, CA; from Calexico, CA to Douglas, AZ; from Columbus, NM to El Paso, TX; from Del Rio, TX to Eagle Pass, TX; and from Laredo, TX to Brownsville, TX.
Section 102(b) was again amended in 2008, with the passage of the Consolidated Appropriations Act (P.L. 110-161). This Act requires the Secretary of Homeland Security to construct reinforced fencing along not less than 700 miles (as opposed to the 850 miles) of the southwest border, in locations where fencing is deemed most practical and effective.
The San Diego Fence and USBP Apprehensions-apprehension statistics have long been used as a performance measure by the USBP, however, the number of apprehensions may be a misleading statistic, for several reasons, including the data’s focus on events rather than people, and the fact there are no reliable estimates for how many aliens successfully evade capture, either along the border, or inland. This makes it difficult to establish a firm correlation between the number of apprehensions in a given sector and the number of people attempting to enter through that sector.
The majority of the decrease occurred in the four-year period from FY 1995 through FY 1998 and coincided with Operation Gatekeeper, which as previously noted combined the construction of fencing along the border with an increase in agents and other resources deployed directly along the border. Apprehensions totaled 120,630 in 1995, and 15,832 in 1998. For the period from FY 1998 to FY 2004, apprehensions at the Imperial Beach station averaged about 14,000 each year, and dropped from 15,832 (in 1998) to 9,112 (in 2004) (Phelps, Dailey & Koenigsberg, 2014).
Besides fences and barriers, the CPB also utilizes their Office of Air and Marine Operations (OAM) to protect America and the nation’s critical infrastructure through the coordinated use of integrated air and marine forces to detect, interdict, and prevent acts of terrorism and the unlawful movement of people, drugs, and other illegal contraband across United States borders. This includes direct support to CBP’s anti-terrorism mission at the U.S. borders, to include air-to-ground interception of people and contraband illegally crossing land borders, air-to-air interception of aircraft, and air-to-water interception of transportation vessels. OAM has more than 1,200 federal agents, 270 aircraft and 280 marine vessels operating from 80 locations throughout the United States. OAM operates the Predator B unmanned aircraft system (UAS) in support of homeland security missions at the nation’s borders. OAM selected the Predator B for its unique combination of operational capabilities, payload capacity, mission flexibility, potential to accommodate new sensor packages, and its safety and performance record with other federal agencies. The CBP UAS program focuses operations on the CBP priority mission of anti-terrorism by helping to identify/intercept potential terrorists and illegal cross-border activity (CBP, 2011).
In partnership with the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG), OAM developed a maritime variant of the Predator B UAS, called the Guardian, to increase reconnaissance, surveillance, targeting, and acquisition capabilities in maritime operating environments. OAM uses the Guardian to conduct long-range surveillance in support of joint counter-narcotics operations in the southeast coastal and Gulf of Mexico border regions and drug source and transit zones, where maritime radar is necessary to detect a variety of threats.
This chapter has considered the history of immigration, along with other factors that have impacted immigration, both legal and illegal. The US shares 5,525 miles of border with Canada and 1,989 miles with Mexico, and the maritime border includes 95,000 miles of shoreline and a 3.4-million-square-mile exclusive economic zone. Border entry points also include airports and seaports, all of which have become exponentially more important in terms of national security since 9/11. Legal immigration into America was the only type of immigration that existed prior to 1882 and the passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act. The border “problem” and its relation to national security is going to exist as long as economic disparity exists between America and its bordering countries, and as long as people are willing to risk their lives to get here.