The US/Mexican Border is a heavily debated topic in current events. Immigration policy reform is one of the most polarizing topics facing U.S. lawmakers today. The U.S. and Mexico are two large countries that share property on the same continent. It is always important to have strong relations with neighboring states. Over the past decade, there have been more and more people illegally coming into the United States.
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In 2016 then-candidate Donald Trump campaigned famously on building a wall along the southern border. Since President Donald Trump was elected he has been trying to get the southern border wall built. There have been many obstacles in the way for the Trump Administration. Congress appropriates funds for federal infrastructure. This makes it hard to convince a democratic ruled House to write a check for President Trump’s southern border wall. The founding fathers actually designed this on purpose. This is why it is important for the separation of powers between Congress and the executive branch. Due to the increase in polarization on Capitol Hill between the party lines, it has accelerated legislative and executive branch turmoil.
The federal government shutdown in January 2018 showed the deep partisanship that led to the inability of getting funding for the southern border through the House and Senate. When the government shutdown, Republicans blamed the Democrats and the Democrats blamed Republicans for causing the shutdown. This circus is probably not exactly what the founding fathers intended but it still works to a degree. Bipartisanship is the only solution for making large and expensive laws and projects.
Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer are the Democratic leaders in the legislative branch and they have been trying to reach a compromise with the President on border security. As the debating and the circus continues, new issues have been rising down on the southern border. New Mexico and Arizona recently called for a state of emergency regarding the large influxes that have been crossing the border illegally. The slow turning wheel of bureaucracy is filled with red tape and roadblocks and prevents immigrants to be able to migrate in a timely manner. The U.S. immigration system has been failing people desperately in need. The New York Times said that there are about 76,000 illegals migrants that have crossed into the United States in February alone. (NY Times) The detainment centers down at the southern border are overrun. There are so many people that have been detained in the last few months that the detainment centers have terrible living conditions. The government is still continuing the circus on Capitol Hill and illegal immigrants are suffering down at the detainment centers with inhumane conditions. This is where bipartisanship meets a roadblock because it cannot accomplish feasible legislation in a timely manner. The lack of compromise on the appropriation of funds in the legislative branch has been the main reason as to why the conditions down at the border have been so bad. While border agents are trying to stretch their resources, they are struggling to keep the border safe and the people that make the desperate decision to come across the border.
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Jack, when looking at the list of blogs, I was excited to see that you wrote about this topic. Two years ago I took a class called "Politics & Society Along the Mexican Border" and believe me it was like drinking from a fire house in terms of all of the information that can be learnt about the border. One of the topics I focused on the most in class was security on the border, specifically regarding the Merida Initiative. If you are still interested on learning more about security on the border, I encourage you to do some research on this topic. With all this being said, I commend you for being able to summarize the topic of security on the border so well. Because there is so many tiny details in border security, I liked how you mainly focused on the current situation with President Trump's border wall. I think most of us wish our Congress would find a happy medium regarding this issue. While it is clear that illegal immigration is becoming a problem (the state of emergency declared in New Mexico and Arizona), I also believe it is America's responsibility to take in these people that are in such desperate need for help. I hope the partisanship on this issue dissolves soon enough, but as I'm sure we can both guess, that probably won't be happening any time soon. Good job!
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