The Department of Homeland Security and the Immigration Enforcement Regime of the Twenty-First Century

For most of the twentieth century, immigration enforcement in the United States focused primarily on the U.S./Mexico border. In the last decade of the twentieth century, the process of border militarization accelerated. Presidents ordered walls to be built and fortified. Thousands of Border Patrol agents were stationed along the southern border. The Border Patrol placed a variety of technological innovations designed to detect unauthorized migrants at strategic locations near the border (Andreas 2000). Ground troops were deployed to assist police in the southern border region (Dunn 2001). Despite criticism from immigrant advocates and researchers, border militarization continues apace.