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Edric Wung CB

The Unintended Consequences of Increased Border Security

Following the September 11th terrorist attacks in 2001, the Bush Administration established the Department of Homeland Security to reexamine the way in which the United States secures its borders. In turn, national attention shifted to curbing illegal immigration and the perceived mass influx of undocumented workers. This augmented focus on border security has led to significant increases in funding for border enforcement. In fact, the number of border patrol agents has doubled from 2003 to 2016. Within the same time frame, the number of ICE agents dedicated to border enforcement and removal of undocumented immigrants has tripled. Despite improved resources and support from Congress, it has been difficult to evaluate the effectiveness of these border policies. Without question, increased border security has raised the stakes of crossing the border. This has, however, had a paradoxical effect on the number of undocumented immigrants in the United States. Rather than the circular pattern immigration the United States has been accustomed to, the higher stakes of border crossing has led to a rising number of undocumented peoples permanently settling in the country.

According to studies done by Douglas Massey, the escalation of border enforcement beginning in the late 1980s has had little effect on the likelihood of undocumented immigrants crossing the border. Instead, it has only led these migrants to cross in more dangerous territory. The heightened danger of border crossing has contributed to more deaths along the border. The movie Who is Dayani Cristal evinces the perils of crossing the border and illustrates the human costs of tightened border security. As trips have become riskier, migrants now have realigned incentives. Unlike the previous circular patterns of migration, more and more immigrants are now staying in the United States. As crossing the border has become more dangerous and costly, migrants are incentivized to stay rather than risk another trip. Greater numbers of undocumented immigrants have settle in the United States, shown in the graphic below:

 

These findings are especially important in today’s political climate, where Donald Trump has advocated for heightened border security to keep the “drug dealers, criminals, and rapists” from entering the United States. The extensive support he has received for his anti-immigrant rhetoric is troubling because it has failed to account for the realities of crossing the border. His desire to build a wall and enhance border security may only perpetuate the counterproductive changes in migration patterns. As Massey explains, “more border enforcement and a denial of social and economic rights to those currently out of status, makes absolutely no sense in practical or moral terms.”

https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/research/the-cost-of-immigration-enforcement-and-border-security

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5049707/

https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/03/08/517561046/how-americas-idea-of-illegal-immigration-doesnt-always-match-reality