| U.s.-mexico Border |
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and the United States spans four U.S. states, six Mexican states, and has over twenty commercial crossings.]] The international border between Mexico and the United States runs from San Diego , California , and Tijuana , Baja California , in the west to Matamoros , Tamaulipas , and Brownsville , Texas , in the east. It traverses a variety of terrains, ranging from major urban areas to inhospitable deserts. From the border crossing at El Paso , Texas , and Ciudad Juárez , Chihuahua , to the east, it follows the course of the Rio Grande (Río Bravo Del Norte) to the Gulf Of Mexico ; from the same binational conurbation westward to the Pacific Ocean , it crosses vast tracts of the Sonoran and Chihuahuan Desert s, the Colorado River Delta , and the northernmost tip of the Baja California Peninsula . The border's total length is 1,951 Mile s (3,141 Km ), according to figures given by the IBWC .1 It is the most frequently crossed International Border in the world, with some 350 million people crossing legally from one country to the other every year.2 GEOGRAPHY ; on the right, Nogales, Sonora ]] Texas has the longest stretch of the border of any state, while Nuevo León has the shortest (12 km). The international border between the United States and Mexico extends over 1,952 miles (3,141 km). The boundary follows the middle of the Rio Grande — according to the 1848 Treaty Of Guadalupe Hidalgo between the two nations, "along the deepest channel" — from its mouth on the Gulf Of Mexico a distance of 1,254 miles (2,019 km) to a point just upstream of El Paso , Texas , and Ciudad Juárez , Chihuahua . It then follows an alignment westward overland and marked by monuments a distance of 533 miles (858 km) to the Colorado River . Thence it follows the middle of that river northward a distance of 24 miles (38 km), and then it again follows an alignment westward overland and marked by monuments a distance of 141 miles (226 km) to the Pacific Ocean . The region along the boundary is characterized by deserts, rugged mountains, abundant sunshine and by two major rivers — the Colorado River and the Rio Grande (Río Bravo del Norte) — which provide life-giving waters to the largely arid but fertile lands along the rivers in both countries. ; on the right, Nogales, Sonora ]] The total population of the borderlands — defined as those Counties and '' Municipios '' lining the border on either side — stands at some 12 million people. From west to east, the border city twinnings and Border Crossing s include the following:
The U.S. State s along the border, from west to east, are: : California , Arizona , New Mexico , and Texas . The Mexican State s are: : Baja California , Sonora , Chihuahua , Coahuila , Nuevo León , and Tamaulipas . HISTORY With the exception of a small number of minor Rio Grande Border Disputes , since settled, the current course of the border was finalized by the 1848 Treaty Of Guadalupe Hidalgo and the 1853 Gadsden Purchase . Whether the border between Mexico and the breakaway Republic Of Texas followed the Rio Grande or the Nueces River further north was an issue never settled during the existence of that Republic, and the uncertainty was one of the direct causes of the 1846 – 48 Mexican-American War . An earlier agreement, signed during the Mexican War Of Independence by the United States and Imperial Spain , was the 1819 Adams-Onís Treaty , which defined the border between the young republic and the dwindling colonial empire following the Louisiana Purchase of 1804 . For a detailed history of water-related agreements along the border since the signing of the 1848 Treaty, see International Boundary And Water Commission . MIGRATION ISSUES . (Tire tracks from Border Patrol jeeps are visible on the beach.)]] The U.S. – Mexico border has the highest number of both legal and illegal crossings of any land border in the world. Besides the closeness of the two countries, differences in living standards on the two sides of border is the primary driving force behind these migratory flows. The U.S. Border Patrol is too underfinanced and understaffed to effectively fight Illegal Immigration (with an average of four agents per mile of the border), and the Mexican government, receiving tens of billons of Dollars each year in expatriate remittances, stops one step short from actually encouraging emigration.3 As a result, a large percentage of the border is left virtually unguarded, except by a small number of patrolling agents of the U.S. federal government. For a period of time in the 1990s U.S. Army personnel were stationed along the U.S.-Mexico border to help stem the flow of illegal aliens and drug smugglers. These soldiers patrolled the border in Camouflage Uniforms with assault rifles, and assisted the border patrol with their tasks. This eventually led to confrontations between citizens attempting to cross the border who were discovered by soldiers. Eventually, public opinion turned against the use of U.S. Army personnel to secure the border, and this tactic was abandoned. After the September 11, 2001 Attack s the United States looked at the feasability of placing soldiers along the U.S.-Mexico border as a safety measure, but nothing along these lines has materialized. It is possible that such a plan is still in the works, or it may have been abandoned in favor of training more Border Patrol Agents. Note that each state in the United States has a National Guard garrison that could be placed on the border at a state’s discretion to assist with border security; many states also have a State Defense Force that could also be activated for this purpose. However, no state has ever exercised such an option. It is estimated that over a million people cross the border illegally each year, most of whom are of Mexican origin. The rest are labeled "Other Than Mexicans" (OTM), of whom a majority are Central America ns. Border Patrol activity is concentrated around big border cities such as San Diego and El Paso . This means that the flow of illegal immigrants is diverted into rural mountainous and desert areas, leading to a significant Number Of Deaths . Attempts to complete the construction of the United States Mexico Barrier have faced stiff opposition from the Mexican government, various U.S.-based Chicano organizations, environmental organizations, and agricultural companies. About 45% of all agricultural laborers in the United States are illegal aliens, according to migration experts at the University Of California, Davis . In December, 2005, the U.S. House of Representatives voted for to build a Separation Barrier along parts of the border. A companion vote is scheduled for February, 2006, in the Senate. Proponents hope that the barrier will stem the flood of illegal immigration into the United States. According to Dr. Douglass Massey (Smoke and Mirrors: U.S. Immigration Policy in the Age of Globalization, Russel Sage, 2001) and other experts, the efforts to curtail illegal immigration by means of security has done nothing but redirect the migration flows into the most desolate and desertic areas of the border, thus increasing the mortality rate of illegal immigrants. Furthermore, the security measures prevent the migrants re-entering Mexico, as they had done in the past. Instead, they remain in the U.S. for longer periods of time and eventually bring their families with them. President Bush, taking into account these findings, has presented an initiative to reinstate a Guest Worker Program to fill the needs of labor of the burgeoning American economy and, at the same time, has pushed to strengthen the security measures at the border to stop suspected terrorists and narcotics dealers from entering the U.S. SEE ALSO
REFERENCES SOURCES :Parts of this article have been adapted from The International Boundary and Water Commission, Its Mission, Organization and Procedures for Solution of Boundary and Water Problems , a public domain publication of the United States Government . |
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