ABSTRACT
The US–Mexico border has become increasingly fortified over the last two decades, as US authorities have deployed greater manpower, technology and physical barriers to prevent the entry of unauthorized immigrants and other perceived threats into US territory. Whether these efforts have been effective and worth the cost is a matter of considerable debate. Drawing on scholarly literature, periodicals and official documents, the author traces the evolution of current efforts to combat unauthorized immigration through tougher border security measures from the founding of the border patrol in the early 20th century to the present. This chapter illustrates that the current border security regime represents an enormous shift from the not so distant past, when the Southwest was a vast, sparsely populated frontier. Increases in border enforcement have been sporadic and largely reactive to a series of crises related to questions of national identity, nativism, and nationalism; cross-border smuggling and the war on drugs; and, more recently, terrorism and national security. Despite the massive escalation of border enforcement in response to these perceived threats, the chapter finds very little evidence that higher fences, greater manpower, and more technology have been effective as a means of restricting immigration to the US. On the contrary, current border security-focused immigration control efforts are costly, in both monetary and human terms.
