Alexa SeychelCortney BecklinDanil Churzin

Andrew Dymond

Mexico: 1810-1821

Mexicans fought for independence from Spanish Conquistadors

Signing of Treaty of Cordoba recognized Mexican Independence

United States: 1776-1789 Fought the British to

declare the United States a sovereign nation

Replaced Articles of Confederation with the Constitution

Already were developed with political leadership and institutional development

1846 Mexico invaded American troops

Argument was over territory including California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and parts of Colorado, Nevada, and Utah

Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo ended the war in 1848

United States gained the land

Mexico received $15 million and the 80,000 Mexicans in the land were supposed to receive property rights

During the Mexican revolution, over 890,000 immigrants moved north of the border to safety

Bracero Program, between 1942 and 1964, made it legal for workers to migrate north for seasonal employment

1965 Immigration and Nationality Act eliminated immigration quotas for family members

1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act strengthened penalties on employers who hired illegal immigrants and border patrol funding increased 338%

North American Free Trade Agreement passed in 1994

Purpose was to eliminate import and export tariffs over the next 15 years

Free trade was established in just 30 months

Farmers in Mexico were not given proper time to adjust to agricultural price drops

Since the agreement, poverty in Mexico has been on the rise

Most border security checks involve only stating the country of your citizenship or the country in which you were born and the you are allowed to pass

If any suspicious vehicles attempt to cross the border at any check point then that car will be pulled aside for a more thorough inspection

At many of the check points there are deputy search dogs to allow the border patrol officers to do an even more thorough search

The U.S.-Mexico border extends approximately 2,000 miles from the Pacific Ocean in the west to the Gulf of Mexico in the east.

This region lies within four U.S. states and six Mexican States

The border runs from the southern most tip of Texas and the southern most tip of California

Large cities the border runs through include: San Diego, Tijuana, Baja, Matamoros, Tamaulipas, and Brownsville

The border’s total length is 1,969 miles

Diseases run high

Water is polluted and inconsumable

Drug crimes effect local communities

Higher than average infant mortality rates

Fastest growing economic region in North America because of NAFTA

Cities on both sides of the border experience annual double-digit economic growth in terms of percentages

1997: approximately $137 billion passed through U.S.-Mexican border ports

Represents 88% of total trade between U.S. and Mexico

*12.7 million Mexican immigrants lived in the United States in 2008, of which 55% were

illegal.

*The average Mexican hourly wage is $4.15 and about 40% of the Mexican population is

below the poverty line.

*Immigrants generally come to the U.S. for a better life.

Danil Churzin

United States/Mexico Border Relations:

Immigration

*A ‘coyote’ is someone who specializes in human smuggling, bringing people across the United States from Mexico.*Several thousands have died crossing

the U.S. and Mexico border since 1994.

Acquiring permanent resident status requires:

*Medical tests*Over $1,400 in fees*Affidavit of Support

*Finger printing*Interview

*Illegal immigrants are identified by trained officers during corrections, highway patrol, or criminal investigations and set

on their way to deportation.

*The Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) spent about $219 million in 2008 to remove 34,000 illegal immigrants.

Ideal Border Fence that extremists would like to see across the entire

U.S.-Mexico Border

Border fencing encompasses four primary components: vehicle, pedestrian, technological, and natural

•Vehicular fencing: remote locations too difficult to survive by traveling on foot•Pedestrian fencing: areas where a high amount of people have or possess the ability to cross unlawfully•Tower-based cameras, sensors, ground-based radar, mobile surveillance and aerial systems typical comprise technological fences •Natural borders can be found wherever rives or mountain ranges

it will soften the surge of unlawful immigration

increase food safety Promote highway safety decrease illegal drug trafficking improve the overall economy It estimated that roughly one-third of the

foreign born population is living in the United States illegally

the barriers would be a tremendous waste of tax dollars on an ultimately ineffective deterrent to illegal immigration.

Janet Napolitano :”You show me a fifty foot wall and I’ll show you a fifty-one foot ladder at the border.”

An online blogger writes that, ”the Great Wall didn't work for China, the Berlin Wall didn't work for the Soviet Union, and Hadrian's Wall didn't work for the Romans”

the barricades would endanger the health and safety of the intended immigrants, interrupt and devastate animal habitats, disrupt migration patterns, and in effect substantially damage the natural environment

However the trouble with the leading type of fencing, pedestrian, is that it exists in a variety of ways

the Endangered Species Act, Migratory Bird Treaty Act, National Environmental Policy Act, Coastal Zone Management Act, Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, and the National Historic Preservation Act to extend triple fencing through the Tijuana River National Estuarine Research Reserve