| Sealing US-Mexico border: Unaffordable, undoable, foolish, dangerous |
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Hearing or reading about the potential infiltration of terrorists bent on our destruction one could get the idea that the US has but one border from where all terrorists have or will cross. As the theory garnering the most national attention goes, the US Mexico border is so porous that terrorists could easily cross as do the several hundred thousand other illegal immigrants. So the demand from theorist of this idea say we cannot discuss immigration reform while the nation faces the high risk of terrorists coming across the US-Mexico border – what must come first is complete control of the border. This close-minded theory is not only foolish but downright dangerous.
First, we need to understand the magnitude of our “borders.” The land borders – Mexico 2,000 miles, Canada 5,525 miles – are the two international boundaries. However, the de facto border with the world is the additional 88,182 miles of tidal shorelines along the Pacific Coast, Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean. To this add all US international airports receiving foreign passenger and cargo flights, all sea ports docking both passenger and cargo ships and land ports-of-entry - combined they add over 300.
US borders as well as de facto “borders” pose the exact same set of problems; they only differ in methods, volume and frequency. Through each of these “doors” illegal immigration, drug smuggling, and other contraband are a constant. And, each of these can be exploited. The 9-11 terrorists exploited our lax entry visa process to enter the country legally. Though harder now, the possibilities of such entries still exist.
Illegal immigration is one of the country’s most pressing problems needing resolution of that there should be no mistake. But in searching for that solution we should not mistake that nearly 100 percent of Mexicans and Central Americans crossing in search of work are not terrorists, and we should not be misled by those claiming the contrary.
As a stand alone issue, unless we stop or resolve the real or perceived need of US businesses for low cost labor that acts as the magnate for the economically deprived job seekers from South of the border, the law enforcement and military resources of the nation can be funneled to the border and in time congratulate each other on stopping the border crossings only to find they are still coming. Like the boat people from Haiti and Cuba, the oceans will serve as the highway.
In 2004, Congress called for the hiring of 10,000 border patrol officers at the rate of 2,000 per year to deploy 80 percent of them along the 2000-mile US-Mexico border. The cost to train each officer is $179,000 ($358 million per year) and median salary with overtime and benefits is around $58,500 ($117 million for the new hires per year). Then the vehicles and other equipment, the new facilities, the holding jails and on the costs would escalate. And worse, 2000 new agents a year won’t stop the numbers crossing, nor will 4000 the second year, now would 6000 the third year and so on. But, it won’t even get a chance because the economic reality hit home forcing the scaling down from 2000 per year new Border Patrol agents to 210.
On the War on Drugs our inability as a nation to face the truth that it is the weakness of many of our citizens’ usage, including many sports and entertainment idols, of drugs that creates the demand leading to production and smuggling. Instead we spend on Plan Colombia/Andean-Initiative over $7 billion and at home over $30-billion on a losing struggle.
Similarly, we are barely awakening to the fact that if jobs were not been offered and given, job-seeking-illegal-immigration would all but evaporate. Thus, it is not a matter of sealing the border(s), but rather stopping the job giving. So that instead of hiring a never enough Border Patrol force, the 210 new hires plus a significant contingency of existing personnel, were to be trained as investigators and auditors of companies in the known industries thriving on low cost labor employment disrupting such practices leading to loss of production time and possible legal prosecution would have a greater impact on stopping illegal immigration.
Thus a theory that suggests the country concentrate its attention and major resources to seal one border would be at the expense of leaving the majority of other doors dangerously unprotected placing the country at great peril and still be faced with illegal immigration, drug smuggling and terrorist threats.
Patrick Osio, Jr is Editor of HispanicVista.com (www.hispanicvista.com).
© 2005 HispanicVista.com, Inc.
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