Foreign Policy Cba

Kendall Meehan
Foreign Policy CBA
1/24/2013
U.S. Foreign Policy with Mexico The U.S. Foreign Policy with Mexico started in the early 1980’s Barack Obama, like George Bush and countless others before him, has declared that our immigration system is broken and in need of an overhaul although many people are asking themselves “what is he doing to fix it”. For the past two decades the United States has been pursuing a widely popular initiative that requires an ambitious expansion of government power in modern history which many refer to it as securing the nation’s borders against immigration. This is a major issue in the U.S. because the amount of illegal immigrants is taking away a large amount of job opportunities for the U.S. citizens. The problem hasn’t been just at the Mexican and American Borders, many Immigrants will find other ways around the guarded areas.
The U.S. has done lots of new changes to stop the amount of illegal immigrants. The Obama administration recently announced they will “stop deporting illegal immigrants younger than 30 if they were brought to the United States as children and only if they meet certain other requirements” (Homeland 1). Congress and successive administrations have increased the size of the Border Patrol from fewer than 3,000 agents to more than 21,000, built nearly 700 miles of fencing along the southern border with Mexico, and deployed pilotless drones, sensor cameras, and other expensive technologies aimed at preventing illegal crossings at the land borders. The government has overhauled the visa system to require interviews for all new visa applicants and instituted extensive background checks for many of those wishing to come to the United States to study, travel, visit family, or do business. “The goal is to create a border control system that ensures that only those legally permitted by the government to enter the territory of the United States will be able to do so, and that they will leave the country when required. (Alden 2)
Many of the illegal immigrants come to the U.S. from Mexico to have children so that they don’t get forced back to Mexico, and because they want to live the “American Dream”. But in some cases the parents and children get separated like in the case of the Salvadoran brother and sister who “made their way over the international line between Mexico and Guatemala with the help of a smuggler who guided them through the jungle.” (Rotella 1) They ended up getting caught by Mexican immigration officers, when they claim all they were trying to do was find their parents who left them and settled in Las Vegas. With more than 1,200,000 illegal immigrants in the U.S. the job market has been slowly decreasing. Foreign workers increase the domestic supply of low-skilled labor, putting downward pressure on US wages. Many immigrants come to the U.S. because their earnings raise by 2.5 more here than at home and US immigration restrictions prevent them from entering the Country legally. Unauthorized immigrants provide a ready source of manpower in agriculture, construction, food processing, building cleaning and maintenance, and other low-end jobs, at a time when the share of low-skilled native-born individuals in the US labor force has drastically decreased. Illegal immigration to the United States is becoming difficult due to advanced technology, infrastructure, and enforcement. Some illegal immigrants illicit the assistance of a "coyote", or smuggler, to help them navigate through the land and cross the border. Once they reach a certain point on the American side of the border, most of the time they have a vehicle waiting for them which is used to transport them to another location. Once they get to the location they usually have family and/or friends waiting to pick them up and to pay the "coyote’s fee." Coyotes generally have insider knowledge about crossing the border, and know the best routes to avoid detection. Many Americans feel that there has been a large increase of illegal immigrants within the last few years. Looking at the statistics of immigrants that have been caught coming to the U.S. from Mexico well there was a major decrease of immigrants recorded of getting caught. In the year of 2001 there were just over 1,200,000 illegal immigrants which is a huge difference from the year of 2012 when there was just slightly over 300,000(CNN 5) Between president Bush and Obama’s terms of presidency there is now 11.9 million illegal immigrants living in the U.S. with 500,000 new entrants arriving annually over the last decade over 50% were illegal immigrants from Mexico.
Illegal immigrants have tried to cross the border through the Arizona desert. This is due to increased security along the Mexico-U.S. border near California. Throughout the summer months, there tend to be more cases of illegal immigrants who try to cross the Arizona desert and die from dehydration. Throughout the U.S. and Mexican border, more check points with U.S. border patrols have been added on the American side of the border. At these points, they may be asked for proof to verify that they are truly a U.S. citizen. As a result, it has become more difficult to illegally cross the border. Many illegal immigrants save up money or borrow money to cover the “coyotes” fee. Once a Mexican immigrant successfully crosses the border into the United States, they usually do one of two things they first aim is to send part of their earnings back home to their family and their second goal is to bring more family members to the United States. Eventually they hope to gain permanent residency (green card) and possibly to become a U.S. citizen. Other illegal immigrants come with a different purpose. They immigrate to the United States with the sole intention of finding a job that will allow them to save enough money to buy a house or set up their own business upon their return to Mexico. “Many Mexican immigrants will say their main goal for coming to the U.S is to end their search of finding a better life.” (Support 3)

Works Cited
Alden, Edward. "Immigration and Border Control." Winter 2012. 24 Jan. 2013 <http://www.dhs.gov/secretary-napolitano-announces-deferred-action-process-young-people-who-are-low-enforcement>.
"CNN POLITICS ON IMMIGRATION.” This Just In RSS. 15 June 2012. CNN. 24 Jan. 2013 <http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2012/06/15/facts-on-immigration-in-the-united-states/>.
Hanson, Gordon H. "Migration Policy." Mexican Immigration. Dec. 2009. 24 Jan. 2013 <http://www.migrationpolicy.org/pubs/hanson-dec09.pdf>.
Homeland, Us security. Homeland. Nov. 2010. 24 Jan. 2013 <http://www.dhs.gov/secretary-napolitano-announces-deferred-action-process-young-people-who-are-low-enforcement>.
ROTELLA, SEBASTIAN. "Foreign Policy Magazine." Foreign Policy. 06 Dec. 2012. 24 Jan. 2013 <http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/12/06/the_new_border_illegal_immigration_s_shifting_frontier>.
Support, Immigration. "Illegal Immigration from Mexico." Illegal Immigration from Mexico. July 2012. 24 Jan. 2013 <http://www.usimmigrationsupport.org/illegal-immigration-from-mexico.html>.