Are border fortifications/restrictions a useful or counterproductive response to mass movements of people?
In the area around El Paso, Texas, the massive movement of people is a reflection of the violence besieging Central America. The people arriving by the thousands at our ports of entry, or attempting to cross the border without ‘authorisation’, are fleeing some of the most violent countries in the world, countries whose governments are wholly unable to protect them. They are not a threat to our national security.
But here – and throughout the southern US – border security is increasingly being militarised: drones, military helicopters, heavily armed agents. This border fortification is designed for a national security threat, yet the US-Mexico border is not a national security issue; it is an issue of human security, a humanitarian crisis.
