History of U.S.-Mexico Border Part 3

The 2000's the last of the series

Sep 06, 2023

2000: 1.6 million illegal immigrants were apprehended at the border and INS estimated that 7 million illegal immigrants were living in the United States in 2000. More than half were Mexican. INS budget exploded to 5 Billion, which is 3x more than 10 years ago.

Maquiladoras are on the decline and Mexico was in recession like the U.S.

2001: - 9/11 - Department of Homeland Security established to take over the INS department and 20 other agencies. President George W Bush proposed a guest worker program but it was opposed by his own Republican party. This is a period of stalemate for border issues. The Border Patrol grew and now included more security and fences.

2004: The Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act - authorized 10,000 new border patrol agents. This number was nearly doubled by 2010.

2005: Operation Streamline under President Obama- prosecuted more illegal crossings. Ended Title. This operation brought a rise in militia and vigilante groups like the Minuteman Project and the opposite group called No Mas Muerte/No More Deaths.

2005: Texas Governor Rick Perry formed “Operation Linebacker” he thought Al-Qaeda was going through the Mexico border.

2006: The Secure Fence Act - U.S. began building 652 miles of fencing.

2011: Gov Rick Perry was running for re-election again. Perry with zero evidence of terrorist groups along the U.S. Border says “criminal organizations could import terror, illegal narcotics and weapons of mass destruction.” He used 10 million in funding including federal grants for other things for this “linebacker” play. Two months later he announced that his border security efforts are what won his reelection. (Start connecting dots people) TX GOP lines up their gubernatorial and presidential campaign ambitions with their border stunts.

2012: Arizona passed Operation Safeguard but immigration increased. President Obama passed several executive actions on immigration reform for temporary work permits, deportation exemptions to millions of undocumented immigrants and the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program (DACA). This program defers deportation proceedings for those under 15 who were brought to the U.S. as children.

2014: Texas Gov. Rick Perry deployed one thousand National Guardsmen to the border in exchange for media attention right before his re-election. Texas Representative Joaquin Castro called him out and accused Gov. Perry of advocating for a “police state” on the border. He then lied that undocumented people committed more than 3,000 homicides since 2008 in TX which was proven to be a lie. Gov. Perry was militarizing our border and even Tx Rep Joaquin Castro said as much. Gov Rick Perry pulls another border stunt, siphoning 38 million dollars from other programs to pay for sending National Guard to the border. He defunded the police radio infrastructure in three counties including Uvalde to pay for “border security.”

2016: Gov. Perry had his eyes on a 2016 Presidential run and he was trying to build up his strong man image. He called the program “Operation Strong Safety.” They actually didn’t know how they were going to pay for it. He left the TxLege scrambling for solutions. What they did was defund the police. They took money allocated for three counties' police radio infrastructure and put it towards the border. What did Texans get out of these ego border stunts? Well they actually got a lot more funding.

2017: President Trump signed an Executive order to expedite construction of a border wall but on Sept 20, 2017 CA AG Xavier Bacerra filed a lawsuit against the Trump Administration for overstepping its powers.

Trump established a policy to separate parents from children at the Mexican border. This was during a period where many people were fleeing areas of Central and South America due to economic and gang violence conditions in their counties. More than 7,000 undocumented immigrants.

2018: Immigrants are still being separated at the border and some have dire consequences. A nursing baby who was separated from her mother, a man separated from his family committed suicide. Many are calling what is happening at the border “cruel” and “immoral.” By mid July over 2,500 children had been separated from their families.

2019: President Trump threatened to shut down the border with Mexico and cut off trade between the two counties. The number of undocumented migrants apprehended at the border was at the lowest levels since the early 1970’s. The Administration continued to build a multibillion dollar wall. Families are still being separated at the border and now there are complaint about sexual abuse of these children held in detention centers.

President Trump cut $450 Million dollars in aid to Central American countries. Countries affected were Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Niguagua. Money from this support went to help fund small and medium sized businesses and helped create 22,000 jobs between 2011-2016. It should come as no surprise that a lot of the people who are now migrating are from these countries. These programs helped keep immigration numbers for these countries lower.

“As feared, a presidential tantrum will limit our nation’s ability to actually help address the challenges forcing people to flee to the U.S.,” Democratic Senator Bob Menendez said on Twitter

2020: During COVID Trump assed Title 42 which closed the border to all non-essential travel. President Trump used Title 42 as a way to curb immigrants during the COVID-19 pandemic, which has allowed the U.S. To expel upward of two million migrants from the border including surges of Haitians and other asylum seekers such as Venezuelans. The U.S. can rapidly expel migrants over keeping control of the spreading virus without a chance of letting migrants apply for asylum.

2021: Texas Governor Greg Abbott is now running for reelection. Gov. Greg Abbott has taken a record 4 billion from Texas coffers to pay for Operation Lone Star. Gov. Greg Abbott blamed President Bidens border policies, however President’s border policies didn’t really differ from Trumps with the exception that he did pass an Executive order establishing an Interagency Task Force on Reunification of Families to identify children separated from their families during the Trump administration and facilitate their reunification.

By June 2021 the Biden administration identified 3,913 children that needed to be reunited with their families and reunited a total of 1,786 children and families. By November 2,248 children were reunited.

Under President George W Bush the Federal Government spent 110 Million on border security. Under Biden it is nearly 3 Billion, yet here we are today with Abbott saying that it isn’t enough.

2022: The National Immigrant Justice Center reports that the Biden administration is still routinely separating families through detention and deportation as part of its interior immigration enforcement practices. Close to 1,000 children still need to be reunited with their families.

2023: May 11- Title 42 restrictions expired

The state of Texas is spending a whopping $5.1 billion for border security. This is after President Biden allocated an additional 25 billion for U.S. Customs and border Protection and an increase of $800 Million over the 2023 enacted level to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Under President Biden we are on record to admit the fewest refugees in the history of the U.S. refugee program. Biden has continued the Trump ban on “nonessential travel” at U.S. Land ports of entry and requesting asylum isn’t essential.

Families are still being reunited due to family separation during the Trump administration.

So what is fueling the Migration Crisis Now?

Unstable economies in Venezuela, Hati, and Guatemala.
Climate change
Republican propaganda on the Open Border Myth

If you turn on Fox News you would think that the U.S.-Mexico border is unmonitored, a desert, filled with crime and that people can just come and go with no control what so ever. Before the 2020 election the term “open borders” started being heard across right winged media. From November 1, 2020 - March 16, 2023 Open Borders was used 3,282 times on Fox News, and 2,727 times on Newsmax over the same period of time. This phrase aired during time slots that are collectively valued nearly $27 Million for advertisers

Vanity Fair wrote an article about this called "How the Right’s “Open Borders” Myth Might Be Fueling the Migration Crisis” by Caleb Ecarma. “The perception from them (migrants) was that the border is open and they could just walk through.” John Modlin, a chief Border Patrol agent said. Migrants believe that the border is open and they get that misinformation straight from far-right media. What we are seeing is smugglers using this open borders propaganda toward their own purpose.

The term Open Borders is being used by the politically advantageous to win points with their base and stay on good terms with Donald Trump. It’s been a winning term for Governor Greg Abbott and we are now seeing other Governors using this term to see if it helps them win re-election.

Razor Wire, Buoys in the Rio Grande, death and WhatsApp. Texas has now become a police state!

June 2023: Gov. Greg Abbott deployed large orange buoys to be installed in the middle of the Rio Grande in Eagle Pass Texas. This meant razing 5 natural islands and installing 1000 feet of floating buoys with serrated saw blades in between. He also added razor wire on the banks of the Rio Grande. Migration was much lower than it was at this time last year.

This resulted in adult and child migrants getting caught in the razor wire. National Guardsman were also accused of pushing migrants back into the Rio Grande and not giving migrants water. Two National Guardsman from Florida did give migrants water and they were sent back home a couple of days later.

Governor Abbott signed border security legislation on June 9, 2023 that allocated $5.1 billion for border security. The first $1,000 feet of the buoys costs approximately 1 million dollars.

July 2023: The United States sought court order to require Texas remove the buoys. Mexico filed complaints about the buoys.

August 2023: Two people were found dead in between the buoys in August, one of them a child.

It was also recently discovered in August that Texas National Guardsman were secretly surveilling migrants using the WhatsApp. This is a violation of a long standing rule against states running spy operations.

Is this who we are? Is this who we want to be? We hope not.

References:

The Violent History of the U.S. Mexico Border

A Brief Legislative History of the Last 50 Years on the U.S. -Mexico Border

Timeline of U.S. - Mexico Border

Immigration Timeline

Mothers Against Greg Abbott - Twitter Post about Border & Uvalde

Castro blasts Perry for border stunts

Texas has spent billions of dollars on border security. But what taxpayers got in return is a mystery.

White House President Biden Strengthens Border Security

Report of the Select Commission on Immigration and Refugee Policy: A Critique

The US and Mexico Border in 7 Charts