Transcript United States/Mexico Border Relations

Alexa Seychel
Cortney Becklin
Danil Churzin
Andrew Dymond
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Mexico: 1810-1821
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Mexicans fought for
independence from
Spanish
Conquistadors
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Signing of Treaty of
Cordoba recognized
Mexican
Independence
United States: 1776-1789
Fought the British to declare
the United States a sovereign
nation
Replaced Articles of
Confederation with the
Constitution
Already were developed
with political leadership and
institutional development
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1846 Mexico invaded American troops
Argument was over territory including California,
Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and parts of
Colorado, Nevada, and Utah
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Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo ended the war in
1848
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United States gained the land
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Mexico received $15 million and the 80,000
Mexicans in the land were supposed to receive
property rights
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During the Mexican revolution, over 890,000
immigrants moved north of the border to safety
Bracero Program, between 1942 and 1964, made it
legal for workers to migrate north for seasonal
employment
1965 Immigration and Nationality Act eliminated
immigration quotas for family members
1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act
strengthened penalties on employers who hired
illegal immigrants and border patrol funding
increased 338%
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North American Free Trade Agreement passed in 1994
Purpose was to eliminate import and export tariffs
over the next 15 years
Free trade was established in just 30 months
Farmers in Mexico were not given proper time to
adjust to agricultural price drops
Since the agreement, poverty in Mexico has been on the
rise
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Most border security checks involve only
stating the country of your citizenship or the
country in which you were born and the you
are allowed to pass
If any suspicious vehicles attempt to cross the
border at any check point then that car will be
pulled aside for a more thorough inspection
At many of the check points there are deputy
search dogs to allow the border patrol officers
to do an even more thorough search
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The U.S.-Mexico border extends approximately
2,000 miles from the Pacific Ocean in the west
to the Gulf of Mexico in the east.
This region lies within four U.S. states and six
Mexican States
The border runs from the southern most tip of
Texas and the southern most tip of California
Large cities the border runs through include:
San Diego, Tijuana, Baja, Matamoros,
Tamaulipas, and Brownsville
The border’s total length is 1,969 miles
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Diseases run high
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Water is polluted and inconsumable
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Drug crimes effect local communities
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Higher than average infant mortality rates
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Fastest growing economic region in North
America because of NAFTA
Cities on both sides of the border experience
annual double-digit economic growth in terms
of percentages
1997: approximately $137 billion passed
through U.S.-Mexican border ports
Represents 88% of total trade between U.S. and
Mexico
United States/Mexico Border Relations:
Immigration
*12.7 million Mexican immigrants lived in the
United States in 2008, of which 55% were illegal.
*The average Mexican hourly wage is $4.15 and
about 40% of the Mexican population is below the
poverty line.
*Immigrants generally come to the U.S. for a better
life.
Danil Churzin
*A ‘coyote’ is someone who specializes in human
smuggling, bringing people across the United
States from Mexico.
*Several thousands have died crossing the U.S.
and Mexico border since 1994.
Acquiring permanent resident status requires:
*Medical tests
*Over $1,400 in fees
*Affidavit of Support
*Finger printing
*Interview
*Illegal immigrants are identified
by trained officers during corrections,
highway patrol, or criminal
investigations and set on their way to
deportation.
*The Bureau of
Immigration and Customs
Enforcement (ICE) spent
about $219 million in 2008
to remove 34,000 illegal
immigrants.
Border fencing encompasses four
primary components: vehicle,
pedestrian, technological, and
natural
Ideal Border Fence that extremists
would like to see across the entire U.S.Mexico Border
•Vehicular fencing: remote
locations too difficult to survive
by traveling on foot
•Pedestrian fencing: areas where
a high amount of people have or
possess the ability to cross
unlawfully
•Tower-based cameras, sensors,
ground-based radar, mobile
surveillance and aerial systems
typical comprise technological
fences
•Natural borders can be found
wherever rives or mountain
ranges
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it will soften the surge of unlawful immigration
increase food safety
Promote highway safety
decrease illegal drug trafficking
improve the overall economy
It estimated that roughly one-third of the
foreign born population is living in the United
States illegally
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the barriers would be a tremendous
waste of tax dollars on an ultimately
ineffective deterrent to illegal
immigration.
Janet Napolitano :”You show me a
fifty foot wall and I’ll show you a
fifty-one foot ladder at the border.”
An online blogger writes that, ”the
Great Wall didn't work for China,
the Berlin Wall didn't work for the
Soviet Union, and Hadrian's Wall
didn't work for the Romans”
the barricades would endanger the
health and safety of the intended
immigrants, interrupt and devastate
animal habitats, disrupt migration
patterns, and in effect substantially
damage the natural environment
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However the trouble with the leading type of
fencing, pedestrian, is that it exists in a variety
of ways
the Endangered Species Act, Migratory Bird
Treaty Act, National Environmental Policy Act,
Coastal Zone Management Act, Clean Water
Act, Clean Air Act, and the National Historic
Preservation Act to extend triple fencing
through the Tijuana River National Estuarine
Research Reserve