Example Of The US-Mexico Border: What’s The Purpose? Essay

The US-Mexico wall also commonly called the great wall of America is an attempt to create a physical hindrance to the movement of people and property across borders. The wall has been under construction since 2005 and work still carry on upon the project despite having already spent gigantic sums over its construction. The wall currently covers half of the entire border between Mexico and the United states and is being built with the objective of creating an obstruction between the Mexican drug importers and the US consumers, and also to separate Latin-American workers from the Americans who were agreeable on hiring them. With half the wall already in place, many have been asking questions about the purpose that it serves. Posting security personnel on the entire 2000 miles of the wall would be a colossal waste of state’s money as well as the manpower and where on one hand, the wall is far from impossible to scale, people have also been coming up with innovative ways of overcoming the physical border in order to exchange goods across the boundaries. The smugglers in the light of the obstacle that stands in the way now make use of medieval time catapults to launch goods across the fence. The bottom line is; the US-Mexico wall is a complete waste of precious assets especially when the reasons for its construction still need to be figured out.
The idea of a physical wall has not proved to be the greatest ideas that we’ve had. Where one of the objectives was to stop illegal immigrations, the wall does not guarantee that they do not happen. People always find ways to cross over to the other side whether by digging under the wall, cutting the fence or by scaling it. It does, however, require time for any person to cross the wall and, therefore, provides the security personnel with an opportunity to catch the person crossing over to the other side before disappearing into the wilderness but the practice also requires surveillance cameras and another added cost. Another point that stacks up against the idea is that it is likely to disturb the environment and the animal population. It is quite liable to cause hindrance in their immigrations between the two areas. Not only that but the construction of the wall also makes it necessary to uproot a number of plants and trees which further worsens the ecological situation.
Another problem is that where the relationships of the US with Mexico have been on the rise since the past few decades, the decision of creating a physical barrier between the two countries and preventing the Mexican people from seeking employment with the Americans is bound to put a strain on the relationship that the two countries have been enjoying. And let’s also not forget the fact the Mexico is a very major trading partner with the United States of America. It is also quite essential to mention the humongous cost that have already been incurred and also that which has yet to be incurred on the construction of the fence. The problem of cost still moves further with the additional cost that will be require to erect the border in poor soil, flood plains and also in sand dunes where the border is going to be more specialized and resultantly more costly. Outside the construction cost is the cost of installing surveillance cameras and hiring additional police force to patrol the fence and take care of security measures along the border. Not to mention the future maintenance costs that are going to be required to keep the hindrance intact.
Many people argue and rightfully so that the wall alone is not going to serve all of the purposes that drove the decisions of putting up the wall. If security really needs to be taken care of, a lot more police force will be required to the border and many more resources too. Keeping the same principal in mind, the barrier takes up $4 billion each year for 16,875 vehicles, 296 aircrafts, 300 watercrafts, and 300 camera towers to ensure maximum security. That surely is a lot of resources that could have done more good when put to an alternative use. Even despite all of these measures in place, many illegal immigrants still cross the border in search of seasonal employment.
The US government went to great lengths to ensure the security of the people and their efforts are greatly appreciated. Many people residing along the border even say that they feel safer now that they know the drug criminals cannot reach them but if we talk realistically, the benefits of the barrier hardly justify its cost, and more so when we have other alternatives of taking care of our problems. For instance, the immigrant problem could have very easily been taken care of by putting in place a few laws and co-coordinating with the Mexican government to uphold them. Instead of focusing on relationships with its neighbors, US are building boundaries and by doing so, are sending an unsociable message.

Works Cited

Answers. 7 Reasons People Believe The Mexico Border Fence Is A Terrible Idea. <http://www.answers.com/article/1211877/7-reasons-people-believe-the-mexico-border-fence-is-a-terrible-idea>.
Basham, Ralph. Why a Border Fence Wouldn't Work. 25 October 2011. <http://www.usnews.com/debate-club/should-the-united-states-build-a-fence-on-its-southern-border/why-a-border-fence-wouldnt-work>.
Rodriguez, Richard. The 'Great Wall of America' and the threat from within. 05 September 2010. <http://articles.latimes.com/2010/sep/05/opinion/la-oe-rodriguez-border-20100905>.
Schrag, Peter. Why strengthening the U.S.-Mexican border leads to more illegal immigration. 18 July 2010. <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/16/AR2010071602720.html>.
Staff, The Week. What would it take to secure the U.S.-Mexico border? 16 March 2013. <http://theweek.com/articles/466628/what-take-secure-usmexico-border>.
The Geo-trade blog. A New Wall on the US-Mexico Border, for what purpose? 1 April 2011. <http://www.thegeotradeblog.com/2011/04/new-wall-on-us-mexico-border-for-what.html>.