Border warsA Monumental diversion: put money into border ports of entry

By Robert Lee Maril

Robert Lee Maril, director of the Center for Diversity and Inequality Research at ECU. // Source: ecu.edu

While the new 650 mile wall between Mexico and the United States draws much media and public attention, border Ports of Entry (POE) are the real problem. We might feel safer believing that the border wall has been constructed, but fundamental challenges remain that call into question the viability of our communities throughout the nation. In many ways the monumental border wall is a monumental diversion. 

Without a doubt, and according to reports both by Customs and Border Patrol (CBP), other governmental agencies, and my own research, we are a somewhat safer nation because of the new wall.  Even though the Great Recession has greatly reduced the number of undocumented job seekers entering this country, all the impediments now in place have also significantly reduced their numbers.

This new wall of monumental size - in some sections it is twenty-feet high including ten-feet of vertical concrete and ten-foot lengths of steel tubing call bollards - was constructed in strategic locations selected by the CBP. 

Now, in many places along the 2,000-mile border, all those seeking illegal entry, including both immigrants looking for jobs and their families, along with a relatively small percentage of professional criminals, must first traverse a geographical barrier like the Rio Grande River, a mountain range, or a desert just to reach our border. 

Then they must cross into land seeded with sensors and high tech surveillance monitored by the Border Patrol, which currently has 22,000 agents on the ground in contrast to its pre-9/11 force of 4,000. Furthermore, the increased use of drones has added another layer of surveillance. Now, with the addition of the new wall, immigrants who have passed this surveillance gauntlet must also somehow scale a twenty-foot partition. 

But what about illegal drugs?  In the 1990s, illegal drugs were more likely to be smuggled into the United States at the Ports of Entry rather than between the Ports of Entry. In fact, according to government reports, of the approximately 70 percent of illegal drugs smuggled into this country, the greatest portion were hidden in the backs of eighteen-wheelers.  While the public often saw videos of the Border Patrol chasing down drug smugglers carrying loads of marijuana or cocaine, the real threat was always drugs hidden in commercial trucks carrying legitimate NAFTA goods into the United States. More disconcertingly, only a very minute portion of trucks crossing the border were ever inspected.

The situation has changed in 2012, but not to