Introduction
Initially the U.S. secured the border because of illegal Asian immigrants, the Mexicans moved to U.S. at will. In 2005, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) declared the initiation of a project whose purpose was to safeguard U.S. borders and minimize prohibited immigration. The project involved building a 2000 miles security wall. There were serious issues along the borderline due to illegal immigration and drug trafficking.
These issues did not exist initially but outsiders brought them. The government of Mexico and U.S. planned to resolve these problems at the expense of the dwellers along the borderline. The dwellers tolerated the difficulties with no help from the local government (Dear 130). Mutual interdependence was the attribute of the people along the borderland. Towns developed along the border.
These towns united the two nations instead of dividing them. This strengthened coexistence of people from the two nations. However, this was not the perception of the government who viewed the borderline as a region of undocumented immigration and gateway to terrorism. The inhabitants were firmly independent with a composition of diverse cultures and crossbreed loyalties. Initially, the people along the borderline in both countries were poor, most of them doing farming and mining as a means of livelihood. However, today borderlands are one of the fastest growing places with vigorous economical, cultural, and political transformation (Schlyer 140).
Effect of the wall on wildlife
The great wall is blocking animals in their paths and hunting territories. The animals’ population has also decreased because of development and therefore the population cannot withstand a separation due to fencing. The wall not only separates two nations and their inhabitants, but the whole continent of wildlife for example the bison (Garcia 155).
The bison’s main water and food sources are on the opposite sides of the Mexico and United States boundary. Therefore, the wall denies wildlife their basic needs, which are essential for their existence. A wall ruins the major survival mechanisms of this uncommon species. The impact is great to the thousands of other species that populate the borderline.
Effect on communities and culture
Walls separate communities and shut out ideas, which could contribute to great inventions. The steel wall along the U.S.-Mexico border has led to pushing unregistered immigrants to hostile regions of the Southwest desert. The great wall along the border has no historical precedent, and deprives the inhabitants the privileges of mutual interdependence.
This barrier offensively disrupts the lives of the inhabitants of the borderland. On the U.S. side, law authorities make arrests and banish illegal immigrants (Chaichian 217). On the Mexican side, the central government fights against drug traffickers. As the figure of dead rise greatly, cartel power become stronger and Mexico becomes a failed nation because of not delivering its objectives.
History has revealed that walls are not the solution to political and economical problems, and in many cases, they bring negative outcomes. When governments build walls, political, economical, and social differences will persist and eliminate the desire to make essential changes. The Berlin Wall was constructed to separate people but was unsuccessful, the same with the Hadrian Wall (Schlyer 140). Existing walls cannot endure and they cannot attain goals that try to restrain social change.
The walls have led to the formation of structured, solid networks of human traffickers. Research reveals that terrorists entering the United States go through common ports of entry where everybody else is passing through. Because of tightened security at other ports of entry, the U.S.-Mexican border is a perfect target for fortified terrorists.
In addition to the longer hours spent at the legal entrance due to strict security and insufficient border patrols, the fence creates a sensation that could have adverse economic impacts for borderline inhabitants because border communities do business on both sides of the border. The wall sends a message of not being welcome and expresses something negative about our neighbors. They manifest fear and the desire for dominance (Garcia 150).
Conclusion
The wall fencing will do less to control illegal immigrants from crossing over. This could even enhance the need for human trafficking. It will give a wrong sensation of security for followers of the immigration reform. The project costs billions of money and its maintenance cost more money; the government could have used these huge amounts of money for investment in new advanced technology for security systems and increasing the number of patrol personnel (Dear 130).
Existence of a wall in the US-Mexican border brushes off border inhabitants and sabotage laws that have been in existence for decades that have protected the environment, cultural places, and rare species. The government requires detailed immigration reform with three major elements: fortified borderline security, imposed laws against people who hire illegal immigrants, a guest employee plan (Chaichian 217). Building a steel wall will not offer any solutions.
Bibliography
Chaichian, Mohammad. Empires and Walls: Globalization, Migration, and Colonial Domination. Netherlands: Hotei Publishing, 2014. Print.
Dear, Michael. Why Walls Won’t Work: Repairing the US-Mexico Divide. New York: Oxford University Press, 2013. Print.
Garcia, John. Latino Politics in America: Community, Culture, and Interests. UK: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2012. Print.
Schlyer, Krista. Continental Divide: wildlife, people, and the Border wall. China: Everbest Printing Co., 2012. Print.