WK3 CASE STUDY CJ453

• Case Study

Students will read chapter 3 of the Edward Alden text, The Closing of the American Border .

 

Upon completion of the weekly Alden chapter reading assignment, students will then submit a one-page summation, outlining the chapter.  The summations should concentrate on the political, cultural, ethnic and religious implications of this effort.  The summation should also cover the student's personal observations of successes and/or failures of America's efforts to secure its border pre & post 9/11.

 

The weekly summation will not require formatting or references, but points will be taken off for lack of content, grammatical errors and/or for a late submission.  The weekly chapter summation will be worth 25 points each week, for a total of 175 points (the final chapter of the Alden book will be included in the final exam). Note that on week 8 of the course, students will use information from their submissions from The Closing of the American Border case studies as building points for their final exam.

• Chapter Three READING

U.S. Border Security Agencies before the advent of Homeland Security-the United States Border Patrol (USBP) is the federal law enforcement agency that enforces laws for the admission of foreign-born persons (aliens) to the United States, as codified in the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, also known as the Hart-Celler Act (Kammer, 2015).  It is an agency operating within the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and is an agency within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).  

The Border Patrol was founded on May 28, 1924 as an agency of the United States Department of Labor to prevent illegal entries along the Mexico–United States border and the United States-Canada border.

Mounted inspectors of the United States Immigration Service patrolled the border in an effort to prevent illegal crossings into this country as early as 1904.  During that period, the mounted inspectors spent most of their time trying to control the flow of illegal Chinese immigrants who came for the California Gold Rush, to help build the Transcontinental Railroad, to work the southern plantations after the Civil War and to participate in setting up California’s agriculture and fisheries.  The Chinese would take a boat to the coast of Mexico take the Mexican Central Railroad to Ciudad Juarez where Mexican smugglers gladly escorted them across the border.

The job the mounted inspectors did patrolling the border in 1904 is essentially the same as what the Border Patrol agents do today. The early version of the Border Patrol worked out a successful plan to apprehend the human smugglers of the day.  The first line of defense was along the Rio Grande. A few of them camped out along the Rio Grande, to seize the smugglers and their human cargo the minute they crossed the river.  To catch the Chinese they missed at the river, other inspectors on horseback would “read sign” (footprints, etc., made by the movement over terrain) and track them overland to cut them off.  More agents were stationed at inspection stations along the rail lines heading north and south of the border. This strategy worked well for a time, but the smart smugglers soon learned to unload their cargo in advance of the “surprise” inspection points and trek on foot to avoid them.

The more elaborate smuggling rings supplied the Chinese with forged papers so they could travel without harassment on the railways.  So hostile was the opposition that in 1882 the United States Congress eventually passed the Chinese Exclusion Act, which prohibited immigration from China for the next ten years.  The Chinese Exclusion Act was the only U.S. law ever to prevent immigration and naturalization solely on the basis of race. Competition with American workers brought pressure for restrictive action against immigration in general and Chinese immigrants specifically, which began with the Chinese Exclusion Act of May 6, 1882 (22 Stat. 58) (Yoon & Chin, 2004).

The next significant exclusionary legislation related to immigration was the Act to Prohibit the Coming of Chinese Persons into the United States of May 1892 (27 Stat. 25).  Referred to as the Geary Act, it allowed Chinese laborers to travel to China and reenter the United States (Yoon & Chin, 2004).  This Act required Chinese immigrants to obtain a certificate as proof of their right to be in this country.  

Prohibition and tighter immigration laws began in 1920, when Congress passed the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, prohibiting the importation, transport, manufacture, or sale of alcoholic beverages.  Officers on duty in the North and South patrolled the border to stem the liquor traffic between “wet” Canada/Mexico and the “dry” United States.  The alcohol smugglers along the southern border usually protected their shipment by hiring heavily-armed local bandits who had no problem with shooting any law enforcement officer who got in the way.  During the first year of Prohibition, six border patrol agents were killed in the line of duty.

In 1933 the Bureau of Immigration and the Bureau of Naturalization was combined into the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS).  When World War I began, the United States experienced a severe labor shortage, particularly in agriculture, due primarily to the number of able-bodied American men due to wartime duties.  Many immigration laws were rescinded.  Between 1917 and 1924, over a hundred thousand Mexicans came to the United States to work in farms and factories.  With thousands of Americans out of work during the Great Depression, there was a public outcry to stop the illegal immigration across the border and to remove the hundreds of thousands already in this country.  The Deportation Act of 1929 was passed authorizing the Immigration Service to round up Mexican workers and ship them back across the border.  Between 1929 and 1939, approximately 500,000 Mexicans were repatriated to Mexico (USCIS, 2014).

During the Second World War, the INS provided tighter control of the border, manned alien detention camps, guarded diplomats taken from embassies and assisted the U.S. Coast Guard in searching for Axis saboteurs.  Aircraft proved extremely effective and became an integral part of operations.  In 1940 the Immigration Service was moved from the Department of Labor to the Department of Justice and the service grew to 1,531 officers.  

The beginning of World War II saw a labor shortage in the United.  The Bracero Program was a diplomatic agreement between the US and Mexico for the importation of “temporary” contract laborers, specifically in agriculture industry.  Mexicans returned to Mexico from the U.S. driving nice cars and telling everyone how much money they earned in America.  Two million Mexican nationals legally participated in the program during its existence, yet the program and its ultimate ineffectiveness in limiting illegal immigration into the United States was one of the primary factors influencing the implementation of Operation Wetback in 1954 (Koestler).

Operation Wetback was a system of immigration tactical control within the U.S. Border Patrol.  The program began in 1954, when teams of Border Patrol agents began deporting Mexicans that had illegally entered the United States.  Operation Wetback focused on quick deportation, as planes were able to coordinate ground efforts more quickly and increased mobility.  Those deported were handed off to Mexican officials, who in turn moved them into central Mexico.  Overall, there were 1,078,168 apprehensions made in the first year of Operation Wetback.  The project was discontinued two years later after nearly 50,000 illegal aliens had been returned home. In terms of apprehensions, Operation Wetback was considered a success, but it would ultimately fail to limit the number of illegal workers entering the United States from Mexico.

In the 1990s, due most likely to public pressure and controversy surrounding the increasing number of illegal aliens crossing the border and in the U.S. illegally, Congress mandated the Border Patrol shift agents away from the interior and focused them on the borders.  After the September 11th attacks, the Department of Homeland Security created two immigration enforcement agencies out of the old Immigration and Naturalization Service: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).  ICE was tasked with investigations, detention and removal of illegal aliens and interior enforcement.  CBP was tasked with inspections at U.S. ports of entry and with preventing illegal entries between the port of entry, transportation check, and entries on U.S. coastal borders.  Homeland Security management decided to align the Border Patrol with CBP, since both agencies had similar functions and responsibilities.  The CBP’s Office of Field Operations is solely responsible for America’s ports of entry, while Border Patrol maintains jurisdiction over all locations between ports of entry, giving Border Patrol agents federal arrest authority nationwide.  

In 2005 the U.S. Border Patrol published an updated national strategy.  The goal of this updated strategy is operational control of the United States border.  The strategy has five main objectives:

• Apprehend terrorists and terrorist weapons illegally entering the United States;
• Deter illegal entries through improved enforcement;
• Detect, apprehend and deter smugglers of humans, drugs and other contraband;
• Use “smart border” technology; and
• Reduce crime in border communities, improving quality of life.

The primary activity of a Border Patrol Agent is “Line Watch,” which involves the detection, prevention, and apprehension of terrorists, undocumented aliens and smugglers of aliens at or near the land border by maintaining surveillance from a covert position; following up on leads; responding to electronic sensor, television systems and aircraft sightings; and interpreting and following tracks, marks, and other physical evidence.  The major activities of the modern Border Patrol include traffic check, traffic observation, city patrol, transportation check, administrative, intelligence, and anti-smuggling activities.  Marine Patrols are conducted along the coastal waterways of the United States, primarily along the Pacific coast, the Caribbean, the tip of Florida, and Puerto Rico and interior waterways common to the United States and Canada.  Border Patrol conducts border control activities from 130 marine craft of various sizes.  Horse and bike patrols are used to augment regular vehicle and foot patrols.  Horse units patrol remote areas along the international boundary that are inaccessible to standard all-terrain vehicles.  Snowmobiles are used to patrol remote areas along the northern border in the winter.

The U.S. Border Patrol maintains several special operations groups with dedicated focus.

• Border Patrol Tactical Unit (BORTAC);
• Border Patrol, Search, Trauma and Rescue (BORSTAR);
• Air Mobile Unit (SDC/SOG/AMU);
• Mobile Response Team (MRT).

BORTAC-The Border Patrol Tactical Unit provides an immediate response capability to emergency and high-risk incidents requiring specialized skills and tactics.  The team is unique in that it conducts operations within the U.S. and in other countries in furtherance of the Border Patrol’s mission. BORTAC also trains and equips Sector Special Response Teams that provide Sector Chief Patrol Agents with the same specialized rapid-response capability within their respective areas of responsibility.  BORTAC skill sets include high-risk warrant service, intelligence/reconnaissance and surveillance, foreign internal defense training, airmobile operations, maritime operations, and precision marksman/observer.

BORSTAR-Border Patrol Search, Trauma, and Rescue, is comprised of Border Patrol agents who volunteer and perform search and rescue missions on an as-needed basis.  

The Border Patrol Special Operations Group (SOG) coordinates the special operations units of the agency.  

The Mobile Response Team (MRT) include Border Patrol agents who are capable of rapid movement to incidents in support of CBP operations.  The MRT provides a flexible, enhanced, tiered-response capability to counter the emerging, changing and evolving threats along the operational areas of the Nation’s borders.  

All new Border Patrol Agents are trained at the Border Patrol Academy in Artesia, New Mexico, which is one of the components of the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC).  If the new recruits are not fluent in Spanish then they spend an additional eight weeks at the Academy. Border Patrol Agent Trainees are instructed in courses including; criminal law, nationality law, and administrative immigration law, police operations, self-defense and arrest techniques, firearms training with pistol, shotgun and rifle, police vehicle driving, and other Border Patrol/federal law enforcement subjects.  Once the new agent arrive at their duty station, they are entered into the Field Training Officer (FTO) program which is an on-the-job training program.

The Border Patrol has suffered more losses in line of duty deaths than any other federal law enforcement agency since the patrolling of the border began by the mounted inspectors in 1904.  On a daily basis Patrol Agents often work alone in remote wilderness areas along the United States international border in areas notorious for alien smuggling, narcotics and contraband smuggling, human trafficking and banditry.

Mexican troops have conducted so many armed incursions on the American side of the border (at least 118) that Border Patrol agents are given index cards with the word “SALUTE” on them (Krauss & Pacheco, 2004).  The SALUTE acronym, according to the card, stands for:

S—Size of the unit (Number of [Mexican Military] Personnel)

A—Activity

L—Location and direction of travel

U—Unit (identify, if possible)

T—Time (if reporting an earlier encounter)

E—Equipment of the Personnel

On the back of the card, it says:

• Remember: Mexican military are trained to escape, evade, and counter-ambush if it will affect their escape.
• Secure detainees and pat down immediately
• Separate leaders from the group
• Remove all personnel from the proximity of the border
• Once scene is secure, search for documents
• Keep a low profile
• Use cover and concealment
• Don’t move excessively or abruptly
• Use shadows and camouflage to conceal yourself
• Stay as quiet as possible but communicate
• Hiding near landmarks makes you easier to locate

The clear implication of this card is armed incursions by Mexican troops happen so often that warnings have to be constantly given to federal agents along the border, to stay alert for the possibility.

On numerous occasions Patrol Agents have been fired upon from the Mexican side of the international border. Intelligence has discovered bounties being placed on Patrol Agents to be paid by drug cartels and smuggling organizations upon the confirmed murder or kidnapping of a U.S. Border Patrol Agent.  

Immigration Services-shortly after the U.S. Civil War, some states started to pass their own immigration laws, which prompted the U.S. Supreme Court to rule in 1875 that immigration was a federal responsibility.  The Immigration Act of 1891 established an Office of the Superintendent of Immigration within the Treasury Department.  This office was responsible for the processing all immigrants seeking admission to the United States and for implementing national immigration policy.  ‘Immigrant Inspectors’, as they were called then, were stationed at major U.S. ports of entry collecting manifests of arriving passengers.  Its largest station was located on Ellis Island in New York harbor (CBP)

In the early 1900s Congress’s primary interest in immigration was to protect American workers.  In 1903, Congress transferred the Bureau of Immigration to the newly created Department of Commerce and Labor.  The Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) was formed in 1933 by a merger of the Bureau of Immigration and the Bureau of Naturalization.  Both those Bureaus, as well as the newly created INS, were controlled by the Department of Labor.  President Franklin Roosevelt moved the INS from the Department of Labor to the Department of Justice in 1940.

In 2003 the administration of immigration services, including permanent residence, naturalization, asylum became the responsibility of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) (then called the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services (BCIS).  The investigative and enforcement functions were combined with the INS and the U.S. Customs investigators, the Federal Protective Service, and the Federal Air Marshal Service, to create U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).  The border security functions of the INS were combined with U.S. Customs Inspectors into the newly created U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

U.S. Border Security Agencies after the advent of Homeland Security

Port Security-the 329 U.S. ports of entry are the responsibility of the Customs and Border Protection which enforces the import and export laws and regulations of the United States federal government and conducts immigration policy and programs. Ports also perform agriculture inspections to protect the country from potential carriers of animal and plant pests or diseases that could cause serious damage to America’s crops, livestock, pets, or the environment.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)-the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is the principal investigative arm of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the second largest investigative agency in the federal government.  Created in 2003 through a merger of the investigative and interior enforcement elements of the U.S. Customs Service and the Immigration and Naturalization Service, ICE now has more than 20,000 employees in offices in all 50 states and 47 foreign countries.

Homeland Security Investigations-Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) is a critical asset in the ICE mission.  It is responsible for investigating a wide range of domestic and international activities arising from the illegal movement of people and goods into the United States.  HSI investigates immigration crime, human rights violations and human smuggling, smuggling of narcotics, weapons and other types of contraband, financial crimes, cybercrime and export enforcement issues.  ICE special agents conduct investigations aimed at protecting critical infrastructure industries that are vulnerable to sabotage, attack or exploitation.  In addition to ICE criminal investigations, HSI oversees the agency’s international affairs operations and intelligence functions.  HSI consists of more than 10,000 employees, consisting of 6,700 special agents, who are assigned to more than 200 cities throughout the U.S. and 47 countries around the world.

Enforcement and Removal Operations-Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) department has the job of enforcing the nation’s immigration laws.  The agency apprehends illegal aliens who either entered illegally or stayed past their allowable visa time, detains these individuals and removes those illegal aliens from the United States.  This unit prioritizes the arrest and removal of convicted criminals, those who pose a threat to national security, fugitives and recent border entrants who entered the country illegally.  ERO transports removable aliens from point to point, manages aliens in custody, provides access to legal resources of advocacy groups and removes individuals from the United States who are ordered deported by the courts.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service-U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is the government agency that oversees lawful immigration to the United States. USCIS’ strategic goals include:

• Strengthening the security and integrity of the immigration system.
• Providing effective customer-oriented immigration benefit and information services.
• Supporting immigrants’ integration and participation in American civic culture.
• Promoting flexible and sound immigration policies and programs.
• Strengthening the infrastructure supporting the USCIS mission.
• Operating as a high-performance organization that promotes a highly talented workforce and a dynamic work culture.

Border security operations are a universal function of every country, as is the enforcement of immigration laws and customs.  No single country has the best answer to the varied issues of border security, but as can be seen by a comparison to Russia and South Africa, the U.S. is not alone in facing terrorism, refugees, mass migration, drug and other contraband smuggling, or the maintenance of sovereign borders against incursion.

 

 

References

Kammer, Jerry (2015).  The Hart-Celler Immigration Act of 1965. Cornell University of Law. Center for        Immigrations Studies. Retrieved from: http://cis.org/Hart-Celler-Immigration-Act-1965

Koestler, Fred L. (n.d.). Operation Wetback. Retrieved from:             http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/pqo01 

Krauss, Erich & Pacheco, Alex (2004). On the Line: Inside the U.S. Border Patrol. New York: Citadel Press.

U.S. Citizens and Immigrations Service (USCIS) (2014).INS Records for 1930s Mexican Repatriations. Retrieved from: https://www.uscis.gov/history-and-genealogy/our-history/historians-mailbox/ins-records-1930s-mexican-repatriations

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) (n.d.). 1891: Immigration Inspection Expands. Retrieved from: https://www.cbp.gov/about/history/1891-imigration-inspection-expands

Yoon, Diana H. & Chin, Gabriel J. (2004). Chinese Exclusion Acts. Encyclopedia.com. Retrieved         from: http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Chinese_Exclusion_Act.aspx