Secure Border? A Wall Doesn’t Make It So

By Dr. Henry Flores, NewsTaco

It appears that one of the principle reasons that politicians in Washington, D.C. cannot develop comprehensive immigration reform is that there is simply unwillingness on the part of all parties to do so.  Congress has failed to pass a budget in years, has tried to dismantle a rather weak health care plan and has ignored policies in areas as disparate as immigration, environmental, gun control, food safety and, yes, even defense.  The current legislature, mostly the Republican led House of Representatives, has simply shut down operations as a functioning body of legislation and instead has become the “high holy temple of nothingness!”  They are set on making the Obama Administration’s legacy one of failure by not doing anything, not even engaging in negotiations, to pass any laws to deal with this nation’s problems.  The most glaring example of this is in the area of immigration reform.

The Conundrum 

I love this word because it means just like it sounds.  In this context, immigration reform is a riddle or something confusing or puzzling, according to Webster’s, thus a conundrum.  Both sides agree to one thing, the immigration policies of this country are broken and require fixing.  And, this is where the two dramatically part ways.  The administration appears to want significant policy initiatives while congress has only one reply.  “We’ll be happy to give the president what he wants but first he has to increase border security.”  Border Security?!?!?

Are you kidding me?!?  Have you been down to the border, the wall that’s been built looks like the one the Soviet Union built the wall around Eastern Europe during the Cold War!

Well if you want to see how the wall works take a look at how long it takes a couple of young American women to “shimmy up” the wall.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHjKBjM1ngw

Now take a look at what different methods are used to get over, under and around the wall.  If creativity is the engine that drives entrepreneurship then drug dealers and smugglers who want to get across the wall have used a broad variety of techniques as depicted in the below Youtube video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfVENwfeGHw

Anyone who wants to breech the wall can, will and have been able to get through whatever barriers the United States has set up to keep people out of our fair country.

Consequences of the Wall 

I’ve tried to determine what the consequences of having this wall on our southern border are and have concluded there are many.  Some individuals can only think of one or two but fail to consider the wall comprehensively.  Obviously, the wall, like any human-made object, can be compromised so it’s not serving to keep out those who really want to get into the United States.  Nevertheless, those who champion its existence seem to think of it as a deterrent, I suppose much like they considered nuclear weapons as a deterrent.

I see the wall as Latin Americans see it, a symbol of the United States’ arrogance assuming that all want to enter into the “land of milk and honey.”  Individuals who want to come to the United States do so because they are desperate and have no options of survival or maintaining a decent living in their home countries.  These folks are being pushed out of the countries they love and claim as their birthright.  These folks are being forced to go to “yankee-landia” to survive.

Another consequence that only a few are speaking of is how the wall has catalyzed environmental and ecological disasters.  The wall has cut off access to many species of mammals, reptiles and insects from their traditional spawning and feeding ranges creating die-offs.  The wall has also led to flooding in some areas so intense that it has displaced many individuals from their homes.  These types of disasters are not unique to one side of the border but affect both sides because the wall has cut through entire habitats, watersheds and economic and social regions.  Look at the video below to see what I am talking about.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ou1Uh-SDAFs

In an earlier piece I pointed out that policy makers are writing, or not, immigration policy without “walking with” immigrants.  Building this wall without understanding all of the consequences is an example of what I am speaking.  Most importantly, the wall and all of the externalities created by it speak to the vacuousness of Republican retorts when they say that they will not pass immigration reform until border security is increased.  We already have a wall that looks like the one the Soviet Union built at the height of the Cold War.  I, for one, falling back on the words of the late President Reagan demand “Mr. President, tear down this wall!”

Henry Flores, PhD, is a Distinguished University Research Professor, Institute of Public Administration and Public Service; Director, Masters in Public Administration (MPA); Professor of International Relations and Political Science at St. Mary’s University.

[Photo by a_isacson/Flicker]