US-MEXICO BORDER. LIFE ON THE FENCE

On August 18, 1971, first lady Pat Nixon inaugurated Border Field State Park. Located in Imperial Beach, California, at the extreme southwest corner of the continental United States, the park is the site of the initial international borderline established after the U.S.-Mexico War ended in 1848. The park's planners envisioned free access to it for people on both sides of the boundary. In her speech, she declared, "I hate to see a fence anywhere."
Twenty years later, under the...
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On August 18, 1971, first lady Pat Nixon inaugurated Border Field State Park. Located in Imperial Beach, California, at the extreme southwest corner of the continental United States, the park is the site of the initial international borderline established after the U.S.-Mexico War ended in 1848. The park's planners envisioned free access to it for people on both sides of the boundary. In her speech, she declared, "I hate to see a fence anywhere."
Twenty years later, under the Clinton administration, the boundary-enforcement apparatus exploded with the emergence of geographically focused "operations" (such as Gatekeeper in San Diego in 1994, Hold the Line, Safeguard,...) and a spike in enforcement-related resources. In this context, barricades became a basic staple in the larger enforcement toolbox, one that increasingly involves measures that resemble aspects of military doctrine, specifically that of low-intensity conflict.
The barriers were strategically placed to mitigate the flow of illegal border crossings along the Mexico - United States international border. Opponents claim the barriers are a taxpayer boondoggle (350 million dollars a year), an ineffective deterrent and that the barriers inappropriately jeopardize the health and safety of those seeking illegal entry (5000 migrant corpses recovered in the borderlands since 1995) into the United States, as well as damage the environment.
Today, the illegal immigrant population of the US is estimated to be about 12 million people. 57% of the illegal immigrants living in the United States are originally from Mexico. The U.S. economy is linked to these immigrant workers from south of the border. The advantages to American industry of this labor arrangement are manifest: enhanced profits through the payment of substandard wages, non-payment of employment benefits, and avoidance of legal and political liabilities for the social costs of production.

Mathias Depardon
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