JE#3B: Who’s Declaring War on the Border

According to the New York Times article Opinion: War on the Border written by Todd Miller (2013), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) “plans to invest billions more in borderland surveillance towers, drones, and helicopters if the House adopts the immigration reform bill that the Senate passed in June” making it clear that the enemy is in Mexico. Who are they keeping out? Are they keeping out terrorists or “unwanted” people? No matter whom they keep out, the heavy U.S. surveillance of the border is terrifying. Crossing the San Ysidro-Tijuana border every month, I notice the stark differences between the U.S. and Mexico that confirm that the “Southwest [is] becoming a ‘militarized border society’” (Miller, 2) where those crossing into America are policed even beyond the boundaries of the border while crossing into Mexico is like entering a different neighborhood. I always feel excited and troubled on the border because I can easily enter Mexico in a few minutes encountering at most two Mexican officers knowing that my return to America will take hours among several officers and my proof of U.S. citizenship. So who is declaring war on the border? The obvious answer to me is the United States. More importantly, who is affected by this war? Mexican and American citizens like farmer Stewart Loew and I who must tolerate constant surveillance. However, we have the privilege of being U.S. citizens and it saddens me to know that undocumented immigrants live with the constant threat of deportation. This war seems endless but it must end in peace so both countries can live in harmony, but this is wishful thinking. Wars never end in peace; instead, they live as reminders of what happens when there is friction.