Elsevier

Political Geography

Volume 24, Issue 2, February 2005, Pages 165-184
Political Geography

Constructing security on the U.S.–Mexico border

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polgeo.2004.09.017Get rights and content

Abstract

This article examines U.S.–Mexico border security in both the pre- and post-September 11th, 2001 periods. It argues for and then employs a constructivist approach to better understand the socio-political context in which the United States has formulated policy solutions for certain defined threats or risks—namely undocumented migration, drugs, and terrorism. It explains how these phenomena are treated as security issues on the border, a process that involves the rhetoric and symbolism of political projects concerned with identity, power, and order. This analysis is accomplished through an evaluation of both policy changes and public discourse. The article contends that, in response to a number of transnational threats, a gradual merging of societal and state security has occurred in both periods. The piece concludes with some thoughts on the place of this approach within border studies and the future of U.S.–Mexico border security.

Introduction

Security issues are complicating and accelerating the transformation of many international borders. We often think of security as an issue or arena of power, of the military and police forces, of defense hardware and troop deployments, of intelligence and conflict. And indeed it is. International Relations (IR) and other disciplines have traditionally focused on these aspects of security which have an important role to play on the U.S.–Mexico border as well as in other contentious settings around the world.1

This article, however, operates from a different, yet complementary, approach. It sets out to probe the ways in which security is “constructed” in this dynamic and important region that is both barrier and bridge to many transnational flows, including trade, migrants, and narcotics. “Constructed” is not taken to mean only how physical security—such as agents, fortifications, surveillance and the like are deployed—but also the nature of the social environment in which actors, like United States government elites and federal agencies, formulate solutions and then take security actions against perceived “threats” or “risks.” The underlying perspective that informs this research accepts that even these material structures and policy manifestations have and are given meaning only by the social context through which they are interpreted. This context provides agents, such as states, with certain understandings—and thus constitution—of their interests vis-à-vis different security threats. This approach is meant to supplement, not replace, competing approaches to the examination of border security (such as rationalist, institutional, or mainstream neoliberal/neorealist perspectives) by shedding light on dimensions of the problem sometimes overlooked or de-emphasized by such work.

To get at how the process of constituting interests works, an analysis of public discourse can be useful to help unlock the social context of border security. Discourse is understood as the defining “scripts” of international politics: public documents, speeches, legislation, and other symbolic resources. More specifically, this article is interested in the genesis of security “problems” on the frontier and the knowledges or solutions which the dominant U.S. policy discourse on border control has authorized to solve them. Accordingly, a brief theoretical context for the three concepts under use here—migration, security, and constructivism—opens the discussion.

The second component of the article then evaluates how undocumented migrants, or so-called “illegal aliens,” are constructed as one of these security problems. The argument is made that the process is connected to danger, identity, power, and public order. An empirical look at official state discourse on migration and border control helps build these connections within the general politics of security on the U.S.–Mexico border. Again, such an analysis is meant to complement mainstream studies of security. A similar approach is then applied in the third section of the essay to border security in the post-September 11th era, with its somewhat new focus on weapons of mass destruction and terrorism. In both periods, the article maintains that we have seen a gradual merging of societal and state security in response to transnational threats. Some thoughts on the place of this approach within border studies and the future of U.S.–Mexico border security conclude the piece.

Section snippets

Undocumented migration: the scope of the issue

To begin to evaluate the connections between migration, security, and discourse, it is important to understand exactly what migration across the U.S.–Mexico frontier is all about. Unfortunately, migration as a process is a somewhat “under-theorized and little-studied” phenomenon (Massey, 1998a: 286). Despite this fact, it is a large-scale occurrence: over one million new immigrants are admitted each year to the United States (Migration Policy Institute, 2004). In addition, an estimated 8.7

The pre-September 11th discourse on undocumented migration across the U.S.–Mexico border

Today's security policies on the U.S.–Mexico border were not created de novo but rather emerge from a gradual intensification of certain measures dating from the late 1970s. These were modified and strengthened in the early 1990s as various agencies of the U.S. government became increasingly involved in security efforts there for reasons discussed below. The relatively open nature of that boundary has long provided opportunities for determined laborers and narcotics to cross illicitly and meet

The post-September 11th discourse on U.S.–Mexico border security

The tragedies of September 11, 2001 marked the end to the post-Cold War era. Numerous researchers and commentators from around the world have engaged in much debate about the meaning of these events and what has followed. For example, Jervis, 2002, LaFeber, 2002, Mearsheimer (2002), the Schlesinger Working Group on Strategic Surprises (2002), and many others have explored the implications of terrorism, U.S. hegemony, empire, intelligence, inequality, foreign policy and other international order

Conclusion

From the above discussion, it is clear that a complex web of factors impact the definition and policy deployment of “security” on the U.S.–Mexico border, at least in terms of undocumented migration control and terrorism prevention. As a complement to mainstream analyses, a constructivist, discourse-oriented account can help us make partial sense of this web of factors. It can add to a growing body of voices in border studies/border theory that have opened up these issues to new, critical

Acknowledgements

I would like to cordially thank John O'Loughlin, Mat Coleman, Joseph Nevins, and the anonymous reviewers of Political Geography for their valuable comments and suggestions on this article.

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