TERRORISM AND BORDER CONTROL

Terrorism and Border Control

Terrorism and Border Control

Introduction

A border security bill presented in May of 2002 boosts the pay of border patrol agents as well as authorizing the former Immigration and Naturalization Service to hire 200 new investigators and 200 inspectors ("House," 2002). It further requisites the old INS to establish a foreign-student tracking system that would make note of the acceptance of aliens by educational institutions (2002). It would also oversee the issuance of student visas as well as the enrollment of aliens at schools (2002). This new proposal comes in the wake of warnings about forthcoming attacks on the nation. While some involved in terrorism had resided in the U.S. for some time, and it is not easy to get a handle on terrorism as a whole, working the borders is prevalent to creating a safe nation. That is why there is a great deal of rhetoric surrounding the problem of lax border control in the United States today.

Discussion

The problem of the border is significant in looking at the ramifications of September 11th. Because the United States is a major target, the borders have to be scrutinized. Terrorist operatives are sometimes smuggled into the states from either Mexico or Canada (Emerson, 2000). Therefore, with the threat of criminals escaping to Canada for asylum, and the threat posed by operatives sneaking into the United States by getting past the Canadian border, the U.S. borders are certainly problematic. The Mexican border is even more vulnerable. Thus far, the authorities have not been able to effect a solution, in part because there is fighting between jurisdictions in terms of who will control international crime and breaches of the U.S. border. During the past decade, small initiatives have been implemented in respect to the borders, particularly in the south. Nonetheless, both political parties' won't effectively tackle this matter once and for all. For the conservatives closing the borders would be political suicide, thus, in fear of what the Liberals would label them as anti Hispanic. Democratic politicians will not give this matter the crucial attention it needs in fear of losing the large Hispanic voting block.

In 1994, the southern border was dealt with in such a way as to treat it as a single, seamless, entity ("The national," 2002). Enforcement consisted of activities in ports-of-entry areas and also the utilization of a phased approach which started in the Southwest and will not be finished until control is achieved nationwide (2002). Some operations target problem areas and in 1994, Operation Gatekeeper was launched and provided coverage for five miles of Imperial Beach that accounted for close to 25% (2002, p.PG) of all illegal border crossings in the country. Once the Border Patrol would seize control of the heavily trafficked stretch, Gatekeeper had expanded to include the whole 66 miles of border that fell under the San Diego Sector's jurisdiction (2002). The program proved successful for the time being (2002).

Operation Hold the Line was implemented to take care of problems in ...