US President Donald Trump’s decision to build a wall on the border with Mexico “will be an important step towards establishing effective border control.”This opinion was expressed on Wednesday by the president of the American Federation for Immigration Reform Dan Stein, commenting on Trump’s executive decrees aimed at tightening immigration policies.
“It is obvious that the border regime, which allowed thousands of illegal immigrants to penetrate the US territory every year, created a threat to national security,” he said in a statement issued here. “For too long, people with a criminal past have remained in the US only because they were refused to be taken back the states from which they came in. The decision of the administration to refrain from issuing visas in these countries until they agree to take back their deported citizens will result in a reduced level crime and will save the lives of Americans. ”
Earlier on Wednesday, Trump signed a decree on the construction of a “major physical barrier” on the border with Mexico. According to White House representative Sean Spicer, such a protective wall will limit the “flow of drugs, crime and illegal immigrants” to the United States, with “Mexico will pay” for erecting the fence “in one way or another.” Another decree envisages measures to strengthen security, in particular tightening the procedure for issuing visas in order to obtain from Washington’s foreign partners consent to the deportation of their citizens who committed crimes in the United States.
The border with Mexico has long been a real headache for the United States. The length of the border contributed to its actual transparency, which was used by not only illegal immigrants who entered the US from Mexico for employment, but also criminal groups that sell drugs and weapons and it was the open American-Mexican border that ensured the US’s close contact with the dangerous breathing of Latin America. After all, through Mexico, immigrants from even less developed countries of Central America – Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador – are also sent to the United States. It is worth noting that the border of Mexico and Guatemala is almost not protected, so the original goal of immigrants from the underdeveloped countries of Central and South America is Guatemala. Hence, migrants go to Mexico. Their task is to cross the Mexican territory as soon as possible, because, despite the transparency of the border with Guatemala, in Mexico, the police are very strict with regard to illegal migrants. Already from the territory of Mexico, Latin Americans are actually in the United States.
The traffic of illegal migration is very large. Until September 11, 2001, the protection of the US-Mexican border was practically non-existent. Every day, thousands of Mexicans crossed the border, heading for work in nearby American communities, and in the evening they returned home to Mexico, as renting houses at border points on Mexican territory is much cheaper than on the other side of the border. The terrorist attacks of September 11 forced the American leadership to change its attitude to the problem of protecting the state border.
From critical positions, analyze the decision of Trump on the overlapping channels of illegal immigration and experts – economists. The fact is that the economic situation in the southern border with Mexico, the US states, has long been characterized by a strong dependence on labor of immigrants, including illegal ones. A number of branches of the economy complete the lower floors of the professional hierarchy with immigrants, and illegal ones. For example, illegal immigrants are attracted to farmers, since a US citizen and even a legal immigrant is almost impossible to persuade to engage in agricultural work – this activity is considered very difficult, it is poorly paid and has no prestige among modern youth. However, it is obvious that the risks that large-scale illegal immigration of the national security of the American state bears are much larger than the benefits of American farmers from the southern states.
By the way, in its time, waging an aggressive war in Indochina, the American government provided the conditions for the departure of many thousands of Vietnamese, Laotian and Cambodian refugees to the United States who before the victory of Communists in their states worked for the American army or occupied government posts. For example, it was thanks to this policy that an impressive Diaspora of Hmong’s was formed in the United States – one of the national minorities of Laos, whose leader General Wang Pao for a long time fought against Lao Communists on the side of the United States. Now, Trump’s decree creates serious obstacles for not only potential extremists and terrorists, but, on the contrary, for those Iraqis, Libyans or Syrians who have cooperated with the American command, and for this reason seek asylum in the territory of the United States. However, most likely, their problem will be solved after the moratorium expires, when the US can formulate more precise criteria for permission or refusal to enter the country.
Even the fact that the six-meter fence was built in many places where previously illegal immigrants crossed the border did not become a serious obstacle for Mexicans and immigrants from other Latin American countries. More or less this measure affected only the traffic of labor migrants, and even then only those who expected to get a job. Smugglers and illegal immigrants penetrating into the United States for questionable purposes quickly established where they could cross the wall. For example, one of the most common ways to penetrate the fence is to make a hole in it. In just half a minute – a minute, the Mexicans manage to make a hole in the fence, after which they penetrate into American territory. Any repairs to the wall do not help – soon there are new gaps in the fence. Moreover, the Mexicans in every possible way prevent the border guards from repairing the fences, throwing them with stones and bottles from Mexican territory.
The main task of the wall between states will be to ensure the internal security of the country because the unprecedented growth of illegal migrants is harmful to for any state. It is believed that a nation without borders is not a nation. A wall is not just a pre-election promise and it is common sense. It is high time to stop the flow of drugs, crime and illegal immigration from nation to another. However, not everyone likes this development. The border wall goes to the detriment of civil liberties. It will be like the life of people in the military zone. Moreover, many opponents oppose this plan and may try to prevent it from starting such trend in the world.
