Border Control/Death Final Exam
Questions and Answers
Death Rate and the Border - Answer -- Deaths start climbing after implementation of
Operation Blockade
- Deaths were dropping since 1987, before Prevention through Deterrence
- Prevention through Deterrence produced about 160 "extra" deaths per year, according to
2003 research
--- "Smoke and Mirrors" (Douglas Massey) - BP wastes a lot of money because they aren't
efficient. What we get out of BP: symbols (idea of BP)
Why Congress Supported Guest Worker Program - Answer -Drawback for Congress to
draft a new immigration bill (providing a path for citizenship), instead have a guest worker
program.
Enforcement Context - Answer -- Deterrence strategy was not implemented in a neutral
setting
- Government officials and politicians traveled to the US-Mexico border in the 1990s to
blame unauthorized migrants for social problems and for creating a national security risk
- The social construction of the border as lawless vilified unauthorized migrants as the
principal menace
- Through the production of a public relations video titled Border Under Siege, BP officials
themselves played a direct role in casting the border as being "invaded" by "aliens"
--- Pete Wilson (governor candidate of California) used border to case himself as a savior,
that he would protect California. In his election he supported a strong policy to restrict
immigrants, require people to report those they thought were undocumented. He won re-
election. After he won, he asked Congress for an immigrant worker program (not scared of
migration, but scared of migration they can't control)
Enforcement seen as Moral Duty - Answer -- From this contextual perspective,
enforcement became more than a duty; it became a moral activity
--- Ex. from movie at the beginning of the semester were BP wouldn't send an agent to the
man that was dying in the desert because they were all inspecting cars at the checkpoint
,- As a moral tool, enforcement could not be compromised, not even in the face of mounting
migrant deaths
- Yet, further research is needed to determine how much lower-rank BP agents actually
identified with the view that portrayed unauthorized migrants as a menace and invaders
--- Congress survey - BP agents say they need more technology and more agents (only
1% said they need a wall). DHS responded by saying every BP agent supports the wall
- Border enforcement officials made deliberate plans to blend their bureaucratic identity
with local communities through civic activities
--- BP used to be all white men. There was little concern for what Mexican-American
communities thought of BP
--- Now, BP uses PR to show that BP and local communities are one in the same
Enforcement to "enhance quality of life" - Answer -- The border enforcement bureaucracy
also began to add to its publicized objectives the enhancement of the quality of life in
border regions
- With the border "under operational control," the economic vitality would increase in
border regions as crime and social service costs decreased
--- More available jobs, lower social service cost (message is that migrants are coming to
the US to get on welfare)
- Through this objective and its civic participation, the border enforcement bureaucracy
projected its image as an ethical force of the community
US border in the 1800s - Answer -US in the 1800s used to put border makers (hundreds of
miles apart from each other - not an actual wall)
Pregnancy and border crossing - Answer -5 women who were at a shelter in Tijuana tried
to cross again. One was pregnant. After crossing into the US they were apprehended and
the woman gave birth. She was deported to Mexico with her baby before she was able to
register her baby as a US citizen.
Causality and Blameability - Answer -- Human rights advocates and other critics have
attributed causality and blame to the border enforcement bureaucracy for the hundreds of
deaths annually of unauthorized border crossers
- However, a wide spectrum of causality and blameability exists of bureaucracies that
implement potentially harmful social policies
Causal Relations - Answer -- Causal relations vary by type and degree
- Some social conditions have a mechanical relationship, so that condition B can only
occur if condition A occurs first
, - Migrant deaths in the border area, however, do not share a rigid, mechanical relationship
with the deterrence strategy b/c:
--- 1) Migrant deaths in border areas occurred for at least a decade prior to the existence of
the strategy (albeit with a smaller percent of desert deaths)
--- 2) Only a small percentage of migrants die after attempting illegal entry
Causal Correlations - Answer -- Statistical association characterizes a second type of
causality
- Statistical correlations can be found between migrant deaths and elements of the
deterrence strategy
- However, the facts that migrant deaths have occurred without the strategy and that the
deaths have fluctuated significantly without similar fluctuations in enforcement makes this
causal relationship less than a prime characterization
Interactional causality - Answer -- A third type of causality can be characterized as
interactional causality, in which conditions or actors have mutual influence on each other
- Unauthorized migration (and politicians, anti-immigrant sentiments) stimulated the
planning and implementation of the deterrence strategy, which in turn stimulated the
redirection of the unauthorized migrant flow
- Interactional causality has two analytical advantages for understanding the causality of
migrant deaths:
--- 1) There is no strict, unidirectional influence in which actors have an exclusively
dependent or independent role
--- 2) Since both border agents and unauthorized migrants have influence in the
interaction, implicitly they both have the property of reflectivity
Reflectivity - Answer -- Through reflectivity migrants attempt to escape the influence of the
deterrence strategy
--- Go on a travel visa and overstay. In order to get visa, have to prove that you will come
back (have to have $3000 in bank account, or other things like that to prove you will return
home)
--- Invitations to wedding or graduation - use fake invite
--- These are about a different moral unit: the family (whatever it takes to keep the family
together)
- Means having agency/consciousness and using it to strategize in your life
- Many succeed in crossing given the reported low migrant death rate for the high rate of
unauthorized crossings
Increased death risk - Answer -- Interactional causality does not exculpate the border
enforcement bureaucracy for redirecting migrants to life-threatening environments
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