Furthermore, another concept depicted in The Devil’s Highway is “The U.S.-Mexico Border as a Place of Danger” which is found in chapter five of Governing Immigration Through Crime. This concept describes the danger of the border for immigrants, invasion and increased the form of patrol and technology to fight illegal entry. This concept describes how immigrants are coming to the United States and it is viewed as an invasion. According to Dowling and Inda (2013), an invasion is interpreted as “a metaphor that evokes a sense of crisis related to an attack on the sovereign territory of the nation. Invasion is an act of war and puts the nation and its people at great risk” (Dowling & Inda, 2013). The United States feared the damage that could happen …show more content…
Each agent is in single of the next, and all of them are in constant contact as they observe the line. (Urrea, p. 59, 2004). The increase in patrol is due to the fear of “invasion”. Immigrants are viewed as aliens and enemies and the United States needed to find a way to stop the entry. Since the border patrol increased, immigrants did want to be caught and deported back to their country so they had to find another way if they wanted to cross in the United States, they forced to move east. To emphasize the border becoming militarized is the story of Jesús and Saint Toribio. “The forces arrayed against Jesús and Saint Toribio were formidable.” It was insisted the border needed to be militarized, which the Devil’s Highway is militarized. Jesus worked an honest job but he required more money to take care of his family so he became a smuggler. In order for his group to cross, he had to overcome the challenge of not being detected by the border patrol since it patrols
Under what circumstances would you go through to better and provide for your family? Would you embark on these six deadly sins above to just get a simple loaf of bread on the table? There is no solid blame or black and white definite answer throughout this novel, The Devil’s Highway. The author Luis Alberto Urrea takes his readers to different perspectives and offers different points of view whether you appear to be a walker, coyote, or the border control on the topic of illegal immigration. Being that Urrea puts the reader in each person shoe’s and truly sees what immense, harsh, conditions for example these immigrants had to go through. Again there is no solid blame or black and white answers, both sides are at fault and in need of a solution to the problem.
The article by Rob Guerette is a case study involving the widely-reported increase of immigration into the United States. It tackles migration issues as well as related issues such as border security , security initiatives by individuals.. The article also provides in-depth research about the impact of illegal immigration into the United States including migrant deaths, deaths of non-migrants at the border, border security and the challenges faced by United States border patrol officers. The main purpose of the article was to provide an explanation as to whether the Border Patrol has any effect in saving the lives of people attempting to enter into the United States (Guerette, 2007).
The primary function of the Border Patrol Agency is "Line Watch"(web), which involves the apprehension of terrorists, smugglers and illegal people at the border. The book ‘Border Patrol nation’ by Tod Miller is a classic example of the Border patrol agency day to day activities and work culture. Tod Miller has researched and written about US-Mexican border issues for last 15 years. The book contains eleven chapters, which are well structured and inter related in respect to the arguments, evident and stories. This makes the book well
Joshua Davis writes how on a drive back to Phoenix there was an immigration checkpoint, “Everybody’s heart rate kicked up…and Oscar prepared for the worst. He imagined being torn from his family and dropped across the border” (107). This is a constant fear illegal immigrants live with. Since my parents and oldest brother had no papers, I lived with constant paranoia. I was scared that from one moment to the next my family will be taken from me, and that I would have to grow up in a foster home without them. This fear was always there whenever I saw police, no matter the reason police was there. Illegal immigrants wake up every day with the uncertainty if it will be last day they see their families. I felt the same fear Oscar and the boys felt that day, because it will be horrible to be separated from a
Officers would patrol the political boundary, known as line watches, between the two nations. These line watches were ineffective because of the size of their jurisdictions and the sheer size of the borderlands between Mexico and the United States. Soon it became clear to Border Patrol officers that most illegal migrant activity developed in the greater borderlands regions than along the boundary between Mexico and the United States. “Instead of enforcing the boundary between the US and Mexico, BP officers patrolled backcountry trails and conducted traffic stops on borderland roadways to capture unsanctioned Mexican immigrants as they travelled from the border to their final
The author is using personal experience to convey a problem to his or her audience. The audience of this piece is quite broad. First and foremost, Mexican-Americans just like the author. People who can relate to what the author has to say, maybe someone who has experienced something similar. The author also seems to be seeking out an audience of white Americans who find themselves unaware of the problem at our borders. The author even offers up a warning to white America when she notes, “White people traveling with brown people, however, can expect to be stopped on suspicion they work with the sanctuary movement”(125). The purpose of this writing is to pull out a problem that is hidden within or society, and let people see it for what it is and isn’t.
It was typical for the men to travel to the north first in order to find a job and set up the life for his family. In the town of San Geronimo, 85% of all men over the age of 15 had left the village in search of work in other parts of Mexico and in the United States. The men would make the trip alone and would send the money that they had made to their wives and children back in the village. The trip to the North was long and very dangerous. For the men who entered the country illegally, the trip could even be deadly. For the men who did have some money, they would hire a “coyote,” a man who would help them cross the border for a price. Sometimes coyotes were legitimate people who sought to help others, while...
Mexico has a long history of cartels the deaths, drugs and weapon trafficking is in all time high increasing year by year. “Mexico's gangs have flourished since the late 19th century, mostly in the north due to their proximity to towns along the U.S.-Mexico border. But it was the American appetite for cocaine in the 1970s that gave Mexican drug cartels immense power to manufacture and transport drugs across the border. Early Mexican gangs were primarily situated in border towns where prostitution, drug use, bootlegging and extortion flourished” (Wagner). They keep themselves armed and ready with gun supplies shipped from the U.S, taking control of the drug trades. The violence is spilling so out of control that they overthrew the Mexican government.
It is important to look at the history of border patrol before judgment. Border patrol has been around since the early 1900s. Their motto of professionalism, honor, and integrity for human life has been a motivation for them through the years. It initiated when mounted watchmen were set up, to prevent illegal immigrants for entering, for the U.S. Immigration Service. Over several decades they gained funds, strategy, coordination and most importantly organization. After the 18th Amendment prohibited the import and export of alcohol, the watchmen had bigger goals and higher expectations. Many limitations were brought also brought upon by the Immigration Acts of 1921 and 1924. The first border patrol academy opened in 1934. In 1940 Immigration service became part of the Department of Justice. Later, Border Patrol Agents gained permission to search illegal immigrants anywhere in the United States. This was very significant because it made immigrants subject to arrest for the first time in history. They could, however, only b...
Dougherty, Jon E. 2004 “Illegal: The Imminent Threat Posed by Our Unsecured U.S.-Mexico Border” Publisher: Thomas Nelson.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement often referred to as I.C.E is an elite agency under the branch of Homeland Security formed in 2003 in response to the attacks on 9/11. ICE has two major components, Homeland Security Investigations and Enforcement and Removal Operations. It is also the second largest law enforcement organization in the United States, second only to the FBI. ICE was created when merger of the investigative and interior enforcement elements of the U.S. Customs Service and the Immigration and Naturalization Service. ICE has over twenty thousand employees in offices all over the U.S. and in forty seven foreign countries, about seven thousands of these employees are special agents. ICE has only one field office in New Jersey, located in Newark but it has nearby offices in Philadelphia and New York City. ICE has six detention facilities in New Jersey. A few of them are: Bergen County Jail, Monmouth County Correctional Institution, and Essex County Correctional Facility. Currently ICE doesn’t have a director, but the assistant director is Daniel Ragsdale and Chie...
Over the years it seems as though our country has become more populated and unsafe from the illegal immigrants and smuggled goods, such as drugs and weapons, which make it into the United States. Although there are many illegal immigrants and contraband that are able to make it into the U.S undetected, there are a significant amount of people and contraband that are caught by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). The CBP is a component of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and was formed in 2003. “It is one of the world’s largest law enforcement organizations and is charged with keeping terrorists and their weapons out of the U.S” (CBP). One of the departments of the CBP is border security, which is a team of individuals that work together to protect our country from “illegal immigrants, narcotics smuggling, and illegal importation” (CBP). Border patrol was established in 1924 and has changed dramatically over the decades. The one aspect that has not changed is “the overall mission to detect and prevent the illegal entry of aliens into the U.S” (CBP). The border patrol is responsible for patrolling the 6,000 miles of Mexican and Canadian land borders and 2,000 miles of coastal waters. According to CBP, “In 2013 420,789 nationwide illegal aliens were apprehended and 2.9 million pounds of drugs were seized.” As one could tell, there is a significant amount of illegal immigrants and smuggled goods coming into the U.S. However, the number of illegal immigrants that have been seized is lower than it has been in the past, but I still believe that having a strong border security is necessary in continuing to keep immigrants from trying to come into the U.S illegally and transporting illegal goods. “The primary goal of bo...
...ion and drug smuggling has been on the rise the past few decades and our current approach is not confronting the escalating issue at hand. America’s safekeeping at our borders is not robust enough to deter these illegal immigrants and drug smugglers. Our border wall and security checkpoints must be strengthened immediately.
What is border security? The United States Customs and Border Protection define border security as a “top priority is to keep terrorists and their weapons from entering the U.S. while welcoming all legitimate travelers and commerce. CBP officers and agents enforce all applicable U.S. laws, including against illegal immigration, narcotics smuggling and illegal importation. Therefore, in order for the United States to be successful in securing the nation’s border, there is an essential need for border security. This has not been an easy challenge but it is something that has to be done otherwise imagine how great a disaster our nation would be. For over 86 years, the United States' approach to securing its border with Mexico has seen many changes and improvements, all of which have contributed positively to the prevention of illegal immigration, drug trafficking, and potential terrorism.
With the United States borders extending over thousands of miles, the government does not have the ability to completely watch and secure this massive border. Therefore, a large number of illegal immigrants take an advantage of crossing the border undetected. With such large amount of illegal immigrants entering our country, the safety of our citizens is hindered because not just illegal immigrants can cross our border but criminals and terrorists can come across virtually unseen. There is basically no telling the sorts of individuals that enter the nation, killers, drug dealers, or terrorists a majority of these criminals live close to the border. With the government cannot completely control illegal immigration over the border, the security of legal citizens is at risk. All things considered, with the powerlessness to control and completely carry out the laws of immigration, potential criminals will constantly barge into the nation and further jeopardize the U.S. lives.