Mexican Border: Finding Easier Solutions

The United States/Mexican border has been a common political debate lately, due to the overwhelming flow of illegal Mexican immigrants in the United States. It is a common sentiment that illegal immigrants are stealing jobs and threatening security, and that the border needs to be sealed off and guarded from intruders. However, while sealing off the border seems like a feasible plan, there are many problems with it. Maintaining a border that size would be a hard task to accomplish and the cost would be almost insurmountable. A better solution would be to make it easier for immigrants to become citizens.

Border issues have always been a back and forth situation. In 1942, the Bracero Program called for the importation of temporary contract laborers from Mexico to the United States. The labor demands on the home front had increased substantially, and thousands of laborers Mexicans headed here to work as Braceros while Americans were off fighting for the Allies in World War II. Although the Bracero Program started off in California, it eventually spread throughout the country with over 856,000 immigrants working (Marentes, 1996).

However, when Operation Wetback was enacted, in 1954, many of the hard working immigrants were sent home to Mexico because of the controversy raised over the onslaught of immigration. "In some cases, illegal immigrants were deported along with their American-born children, who were by law U.S. citizens…They adopted the practice of stopping "Mexican looking" citizens on the street and asking for identification" (Operation Wetback, 2011). While the number of immigrants decreased with deportation efforts, many decided to stay illegally and make the United States a permanent home.

Originally, the immigrants didn't pose a problem, but when the economy began to decline and unemployment increased, fingers began to be pointed. It became a common sentiment that the large illegal Hispanic community was responsible for the lack of jobs, and that because the amount of illegal immigrants in the country was so vast, the borders were not secure and needed to be boarded up. While a common sentiment among American citizens, the plan was easier said than done. The US/Mexican border is nearly 2000 miles long, among which actual wall borders have been placed (Beaver, 1).

In 1993, President Clinton administrated Operation Gatekeeper in an attempt to further the efforts to keep illegals from passing into America. Along the 1,951 mile border, about 80 miles of border walls were strategically placed in "hot spots" where large amounts of Mexicans were known to pass. Although a good effort was put in to stop the influx of immigrants, 1,871 miles of the border were still left unprotected, albeit surrounded by desert with no food, water or shelter nearby (Holland, 2006). Conditions in those unprotected areas weren't exactly helpful in getting across, but they didn't prohibit the efforts of those who wanted to get into the country.

Edmundo Ramirez Martinez, deputy of Mexico's Secretary of the Commission of Population, Border and Immigration Issues, said that on average 1.5 Mexicans die every day, just from trying to cross the border and chasing the American Dream, not only because of weather conditions, but at the hands of Border Patrol officers as well. In 2006, just over 500 died trying to do so (Holland, 2006).

This begs the question: why should the deaths of these Mexicans affect Americans? Many would say that if they had come to the country legally, they would still be alive today. The question goes beyond politics and into morals. Does someone really deserve the death penalty for trying to start a new and better life for himself and his family? Does a patrolman have the right to shoot someone for illegally crossing? It doesn't seem like the justice is equal to the crime.

Another argument might be that the immigrants could be criminals and threaten our national security. The thing is, people that cross the boarder legally could be criminals. But the question we should be asking is what's more dangerous? An undocumented criminal and not knowing where he's living or working, or his name, age, and profile? Or a documented one? There are around 8 million illegal immigrants already in America, an estimated half of witch are Mexican, that are unwilling to come forward to be deported (Holland, 2006). Hardworking illegal's in the United States are in even more danger because if something happens to them while in the country, they cannot go to the police because they will be sent home. We need to stop investing so much in keeping immigrants out and put more effort into making illegal's legal. The US already does this for Cubans so, why not Mexicans? If a Cuban lands on American soil after floating on a raft, the US allows him to get his documentation to make him legal (Grendes, 2005). If a Mexican gets to the US and asks for it help, the US gives him the cold shoulder and sends them back after they risked there life to get here. A plausible solution would be