Controlling the US southern border
“For a nation of immigrants and immigration, the United States adjusts its immigration policies only rarely, largely because the politics surrounding immigration can be deeply divisive.” (1) President Donald Trump spoke on 01/25/2017 about his new executive orders during a visit to the Department of Homeland Security with increased border security plans between the US and Mexico.
Executive order 01/25/2017: Border Security and Immigration Enforcement Improvements
Executive order 01/25/2017: Enhancing Public Safety inside borders
Donald Trump during the 2016 Presidential election campaign said that he would build a wall along the border and “Mexico will pay for it.” He wanted to increase enforcement of the existing immigration laws, as well as not allowing the “bad people” to hide in sanctuary cities.
The speculation whether Donald Trump’s “wall” was serious has been ended. Trump announced the “immediate construction of a border wall” as part of his immigration reform. Mexico is not controlling their southern border. “We are in the middle of a crisis on our southern border” from an influx of immigrants coming up through Mexico from Central America. People are fleeing through Mexico heading north to the United States to escape gang violence and poverty.
Fleeing violence to the American dream
“El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras are called the “Northern Triangle” and gripped with gang violence. The Council on Foreign Relations has estimated that “nearly 10 percent of the Northern Triangle countries’ thirty million residents have left, mostly for the United States.”
Monetary “aid” sent to assist the region is not enough. Trump says that a wall on the US southern border to deter entry into the United States would also help Mexico. Perhaps Mexico also needs a wall or fence on their southern border. The flow of people through Mexico drawn to the “American dream” has caused problems for our southern border neighbor.
There are unaccompanied children from Central America heading to the United States. These children often actively seek out Border Patrol agents when crossing the US border requesting sanctuary. The influx can overwhelm local communities. The Department of Homeland Security locates a relative within the U.S. to send the children on after processing. There is no ongoing tracking of the children until their immigration hearings nor proper vetting of those who receive the children.
Mexicans continue crossing back and forth across the US border and also heading north to Canada. In 2010 Canada set up a visa requirement for Mexicans entering their country, but this was lifted in December 2016. There is expectation that the visa requirement will need to be added back in future, if there is another surge of immigration.
“eliminating all remaining barriers”
Controlling the borders is a part of Trump’s “nationalism”. Globalists have a preference for open borders. There has been a slow and diligent movement towards a “North American Union”. The plan is for a “free flow of people” across the three countries. Central America was not included in the original planned trade region. NAFTA was a step on this plan.
Mexican President Vicente Fox and Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin met at U.S. President George W. Bush’s Waco, Texas ranch in March 2005 to discuss how to further integrate the three countries and further open up the borders. A report from the meeting by the Council on Foreign Relations gave recommendations to further these goals.
The Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP) was set up after this meeting with annual meetings. There have been 9 additional meetings between leaders of the three countries. President Obama set up additional dual bi-lateral meetings. Will the new US President participate in the globalist planned meetings to continue integrating the 3 North American countries?
This is a sample from the CFR report of recommendations from 2005.
“Move to full labor mobility between Canada and the United States. To make companies based in North America as competitive as possible in the global economy, Canada and the United States should consider eliminating all remaining barriers to the ability of their citizens to live and work in the other country. This free flow of people would offer an important advantage to employers in both countries by giving them rapid access to a larger pool of skilled labor, and would enhance the well-being of individuals in both countries by enabling them to move quickly to where their skills are needed. In the long term, the two countries should work to extend this policy to Mexico as well, though doing so will not be practical until wage differentials between Mexico and its two North American neighbors have diminished considerably.”
Immigration agents support Trump
The unions of the Border Patrol agents and ICE agents supported Donald Trump’s candidacy. They now support his new immigration control measures. Chris Crane is the national spokesman for a union of over 5,800 Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, which is part of the Department of Homeland Security. Crane sued the Obama administration in 2012 over their lax immigration policies. Brandon Judd is President of the Border Patrol Council, which is a union of 16,000 border patrol agents. President Donald Trump thanked Brandon Judd and Chris Crane and said they would soon be very busy.
What will the wall be made of?
Donald Trump’s “Wall” may not be literally a wall of concrete and re-bar steel along the entire border.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgPvoMR-aZo
Steve Inskeep of NPR’s Morning Edition interviewed Brandon Judd in November 2016 about border security with Mexico and asked about the Trump wall. President George W. Bush in 2006 began to build fencing along the border. The border patrol agent said that currently “about 10 to 15 percent of our border has an actual fence.” President Bush said that a fence would “help protect the American people” and “make our borders more secure.” Adding the fence was “an important step toward immigration reform.”
Judd said the real issue wasn’t a wall. “The debate’s about border security. That’s what the debate is about.” He thought that there wasn’t going to be fencing across the entire southern border. There were needs for increases up to 30% of the border of “actual fence, comma wall” at strategic locations.
Fencing alone won’t stop the drug flow. Drug cartels have dug extensive tunnels to continue their trade to bypass the border fencing, which will require additional technology to thwart them. Judd said,”If we integrate intelligence strategy to combat the cartels, we absolutely can be effective – 100 percent effective.”
Donald Trump plans to build his “Wall” to protect the country. “Beginning today the United States of America gets back control of its borders.”
(1) Migrationpolicy.org: August 2013 Immigration US legislative reform
NPR: Immigration Employees File Suit Against Obama’s New Immigration Policy 2012
Border Patrol Council (union)
BBC – Secure Fence Act to a real wall?
Wikipedia: Secure Fence Act of 2006
Center for Immigration Studies: Sanctuary Cities
A review of the “Building a North American Community” meeting from March 2005
Migrationpolicy.org: US unaccompanies children through southern border
CFR report: Northern Triangle violence Jan 2016
NBC: More than 10,000 unaccompanied minors on US southern border
MSNBC: Mexico’s southern border
Canada preparing for a potential flood of Mexican migrants
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)
Department of Homeland Security (DHS)