The Impact of Illegal Immigration on Border Security

The Impact of Illegal Immigration on Border Security
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The Impact of Illegal Immigration on Border Security
Illegal immigration has been one of the major concerns in the United States based on its far-reaching economic impacts. While the United States has an unprecedented number of people living in the country illegally, undocumented immigrants have increased steadily. The economy absorbs the increasing numbers of illegal immigrants as they dominate low-end occupations and the agricultural labor force (Stephen, 2018). The September 11, 2001 incident facilitated the creation of national security law in the fight against terror threats. Besides, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) enacted border policing to control the movement of illegal immigrants to the United States. Despite the increasing number of studies on unlawful immigration, aliens' impacts on border security are still open to question.
Massive illegal immigration to the United States takes place along the Mexican border. Over the years, the United States has realized an increase in the number of illegal immigrants from Mexico searching for economic opportunities in the United States. Over the years, immigration has emerged as a mass phenomenon, with an increasing number of aliens moving to the United States legally and illegally (Peloche Barrera, 2019). In other instances, some immigrants move to the United States to smuggle illegal products such as drugs. Therefore, illegal immigration might have a far-reaching impact on the United States' economy. Equally, the United States encounters a significant challenge of increasing the number of temporary workers, tourists, and students who immigrate to the United States legally and then exceed the permissible stay period specified in their travel documents.
The research on the economic impact of illegal immigration is critical to compare the number of immigrants and the growth of the U.S economy. Illegal immigration is a vital issue since the current systems are ineffective in deterring the threat of criminals. While some individuals argue that unlawful immigration positively impacts the economy, others argue that it results in devastating effects. Therefore, the key focus of the research is to understand the impact of illegal immigration on the United States' economy. However, the research's significant limitation is finding accurate data on criminal activities across the United States borders. Researchers might find it challenging to understand the number of illegal immigrants. Furthermore, the study might have limitations on the variables that could be applicable. The research involved the most critical factors for the economy and related to illegal immigration.
The 9/11 terror attack had a far-reaching impact on national security and immigration across the United States. Over the years, the security environment has had a key influence on the characteristics of border policies and immigration across different country areas. The terror attack incident influenced the government to implement conspicuous and strict policy developments to deter the entry of terrorists into the country. Besides, the government has enacted laws and regulations to prevent terror attacks while enhancing border security. For instance, the USA Patriot Act provides law enforcement officers with tools to expedite intelligence gathering for immigrants seeking entry to the United States. Through intelligence gathering, the United States has a chance to screen immigrants and aliens to the country.
Literature Review
Illegal immigration has been a controversial issue in the United States for the last three decades. Wadhia (2018) argues that former President Donald Trump focused on enacting border closure as a measure to control illegal immigrants. For that reason, researchers have explored the connectedness between the United States economy and undocumented immigrants. While some individuals such as tourists, guest workers, and visitors move to the United States legally, the number of unauthorized and undocumented immigrants has increased steadily (Wadhia, 2018). For that reason, researchers have focused on the impact of illegal immigration to the United States' economic wellbeing. Notably, government expenditures, business investments, consumer spending, and income inequality are the prevailing variables in most studies. The variables are critical in estimating the impact of illegal immigration on the United States' economy. Comprehensive analysis of various scholarly sources can help to derive insight on the issue of illegal immigration.
McKelvie (2021) argues that the interconnectedness between terrorism and immigration has increased significantly due to the implementation of antiterrorism policies and political polarization in addressing border attacks. Security experts aver that inaction to address immigration threats is likely to enhance security vulnerabilities on the borders as significant challenges to the country. DHS should examine the effectiveness of 9/11 antiterrorism policies and their impacts on immigration (McKelvie, 2021). Over the years, antiterrorism policies and inadequacy of assimilation programs have caused resentment among immigrants, further fueling radicalization. For that reason, policymakers have invested resources in counter-radicalization programs to reverse the deficient antiterrorism policies.
The September 11, 2001 terror attack marked a transitional and formative moment in the United States history based on its immigration policies. Before the terror incident, Congress passed Illegal Immigration Reform (IIR) as a comprehensive overhaul of the United States' immigration regulations and in response to the influx of illegal immigrants to the country (McKelvie, 2021). The United States government would target illegal immigrants who paused a security threat in such a case. In the weeks leading to 9/11, the then-president George W. Bush proposed amnesty for illegal immigrants to meet the economic demands. In addressing gaps in domestic counterterrorism efforts, the key focus was to secure United States' borders to prevent the entry of illegal immigrants, terrorists, and counterfeit goods.
Pierce et al. (2018) argue that border enforcement is crucial to control unauthorized immigration to the United States. For that reason, border enforcement had emerged as one of the subjects of Congressional interest since the 1970s when illegal immigration emerged as a significant concern in the United States. During the 1990s, "prevention through deterrence" was the primary strategy of enhancing border security. Besides, CBP imposed tough penalties against unauthorized immigrants. Therefore, it is apparent that the United States has expanded border enforcement resources over the last three decades through increasing surveillance technology, security appropriations, and trained personnel (Pierce et al., 2018). Although enhanced border enforcement increases costs, DHS has a chance to deter unauthorized entries to the United States. Notably, The United States has pursued sustained control to strengthen control on the national borders. The key objective is to create a system of sustained.
The threat of illegal immigrants emerges from inefficient border security policies across the United States. A vital aspect of the deficiencies is the lack of consensus among law enforcement agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), in determining the essence of securing national borders. For instance, border patrol accounts for border security differently from the Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (Pierce et al., 2018). However, the discrepancy is a crucial focus of the current immigration legislation by the senate. The government has enhanced complete surveillance of the U.S-Mexico border through the legislation. Besides, the U.S government lacks an effective system to assess and track visas. As a result, an increasing number of people overstay in the United States as illegal immigrants. Over the last two decades, the government's key focus has been to secure the borders against illegal immigrants. As a result, Congress and successive administrations have enhanced border patrol, including fencing and imprisoning illegal immigrants.
According to Zong et al. (2018), illegal immigration harms the local level and positively impacts the national level. For instance, some geographic areas realize an increase in the number of jobs occupied by illegal foreign aliens as one of the positive impacts of illegal immigration. In such a case, unskilled native workers would not compete with unlawful foreign employees, thus, expediting economic growth. Besides, illegal immigration has positive impacts on primary and secondary sectors of the labor market. In such a case, some organizations are likely to benefit from cheap labor from the immigrants. However, the negative impacts of illegal immigration far outweigh the benefits from the aliens.
Americans fear the surge of Mexican immigrants to the United States based on their threat to border security. While some of the residents believe that immigrants positively impact the economy, most of them have realized the danger that they pose to the country. In other cases, a section of the U.S. citizens perceives illegal immigrants as a threat to their job security (Zong et al., 2018). However, the main hazards of unlawful immigrants are the dangers that they pose to the national borders. Despite the government efforts in addressing the concern, ille...