Border Patrol

United States Border Patrol

Global Politics – 1

Instructor: Justin DePlato

Geography affects the United States border security by making some borders more accessible to cross and making them more feasible spots for illegal crossings while making other borders somewhat problematic to cross. For the United States, the East and West Coasts are sometimes challenging to access due to their geography. They face towards large oceans and are often quite distant from any foreign countries. The northern and southern borders are very long land borders. These borders go through very isolated areas and can be very hard to keep order and patrol. The northern border is generally seen as a less likely spot for illegal crossings because it borders on a prosperous country instead of a poor one. These are ways in which geography determines which United States borders are most likely to be crossed illegally. Mexico’s border is smaller and can be monitored and patrolled with less ability. It also has the most activity of illegal entry with the intent to stay in the United States. I believe that terrorist enter our country from many entry points in addition to Mexico and Canada. In my opinion no one is serious about patrolling borders and stopping illegal entry simply because it’s not cost effective. Greater efforts should be made to bring Mexico, the country that is the primary source of illegal immigrants, into the planning process. The northern border poses a more severe challenge as far as border control given its length, geographic complexity, and comparative lack of manpower. The main concerns are the border’s weakness to terrorism and drug smuggling. Another reason is a poorly managed economic system, as long as there is a need for foreign workplace there will be illegal border crossings. I think most states cannot find enough qualified skilled workers to do the job, so maybe they should implement some sort of training and a system to recruit more high qualified...