A nation without borders is not a nation. Today, every country is putting efforts to secure its borders not only from terrorists and drug smugglers, but also from the illegal immigrants. All these recurring activities have sparked the United States to secure its borders against illegal immigrants and terrorism by creating two immigration enforcement agencies: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) in the year 2003. ‘Border Patrol Nation’ by Todd Miller is a classic example of the Border Patrol Agency’s day to day activities and work culture. Through the structure of each chapter, Miller observes the concerns swirling through the militarization, work culture, beliefs and extra constitutional
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The US Border Patrol is the most visible of DHS’s agencies and is now touching the majority of the population than ever before. It has increased its strength to more than 21,000 agents, up from 8,500 in 2001 and 4,000 in 1994 (17). In the United States, Border and Immigration enforcement budgets are becoming larger every day. Miller examines that since 9/11, the US government has funneled around $791 billion on Homeland Security. In order to support this he writes, “The $18 billion spent on border and immigration enforcement in 2012 outguns the budget of all other federal law enforcement bodies combined. That is 24 percent more than $14.4 billion combined budgets in the last fiscal year for the FBI, Secret Service, Drug Enforcement Administration, U.S. Marshal Service, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives”(27). In ‘The complex Builders’, he also reports about the corporate militarism. He argues that a billion-dollar border …show more content…
He argues that CBP is adopting a culture of militaristic racism against the Latino and reserved Tohono O'odham communities. He examines that the agents are framed in such a high military standard that often violate human rights and are dehumanized. In order to strengthen his argument, he interviewed a number of non-white people, affected by racist border policing. He gathered the evidences by documenting their real life encounters with the Border Patrol Agency. He threw a harsh light on instances of the border patrol agents acting in inhumane ways, harassing and manhandling the Latino and reserve communities residing in the 100 mile constitution-free zones from all borders. This 100 mile area has been reaffirmed by the Supreme Court as the legitimate zone of operations for border policing, including warrantless searches. About deportations, he finds that the steep rise in deportations is mainly the result of an excellent interlocking system involving local law enforcement agencies. He justified his argument by citing different incidents of arrests and deportation of various people. For instance, in one case, Miller spoke to an undocumented Sodus resident Gabriela Gutierrez; she was stopped, arrested and jailed by the border patrol agents, while on way to a grocery store with her three year old daughter Lucy. She was deported back to Mexico (155). He also visited a migrant community
The US Border Patrol is the most visible of DHS’s agencies and is now touching the majority of the population than ever before. It has increased its strength to more than 21,000 agents, up from 8,500 in 2001 and 4,000 in 1994 (17). In the United States, Border and Immigration enforcement budgets are becoming larger every day. Miller examines that since 9/11, the US government has funneled around $791 billion on Homeland Security. In order to support this he writes, “The $18 billion spent on border and immigration enforcement in 2012 outguns the budget of all other federal law enforcement bodies combined. That is 24 percent more than $14.4 billion combined budgets in the last fiscal year for the FBI, Secret Service, Drug Enforcement Administration, U.S. Marshal Service, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives”(27). In ‘The complex Builders’, he also reports about the corporate militarism. He argues that a billion-dollar border …show more content…
He argues that CBP is adopting a culture of militaristic racism against the Latino and reserved Tohono O'odham communities. He examines that the agents are framed in such a high military standard that often violate human rights and are dehumanized. In order to strengthen his argument, he interviewed a number of non-white people, affected by racist border policing. He gathered the evidences by documenting their real life encounters with the Border Patrol Agency. He threw a harsh light on instances of the border patrol agents acting in inhumane ways, harassing and manhandling the Latino and reserve communities residing in the 100 mile constitution-free zones from all borders. This 100 mile area has been reaffirmed by the Supreme Court as the legitimate zone of operations for border policing, including warrantless searches. About deportations, he finds that the steep rise in deportations is mainly the result of an excellent interlocking system involving local law enforcement agencies. He justified his argument by citing different incidents of arrests and deportation of various people. For instance, in one case, Miller spoke to an undocumented Sodus resident Gabriela Gutierrez; she was stopped, arrested and jailed by the border patrol agents, while on way to a grocery store with her three year old daughter Lucy. She was deported back to Mexico (155). He also visited a migrant community