Immigration has been a sensitive debate in U.S politics for decades now. The policy makers weigh between competing economic, security and humanitarian concerns. Data from the latest census shows that Mexican immigration into the U.S is near chronic. There are an estimated 11 million illegal immigrants in the country. The war on drugs and violence has long caused Mexicans to emigrate to the U.S. The immigration officially began in 1846 and has continued to date making Mexicans are the single largest group of the foreign-born resident in the US. They account for 50% of all illegal residents ( Haugen & Musser, 2011) . This begs the question: Is there a crisis on the US-Mexico border?
Nativists would say yes, eager to restrict immigration with particular interest on the Mexican population which has grown from 11.2 million to 31.8 million persons between the 2000 and 2010 censuses ( Issitt , 2018) . Racial and xenophobic fears exist where natives are afraid of foreigners and terrorists. Since his ascension to power, Donald Trump has pledged to construct a wall on the United States' southern border with faith that it will offer an immediate solution to the problem of undocumented immigration from Mexico. The U.S-Mexico border is over 1945 miles long most of which is poorly marked and incomplete ( Issitt , 2018) . Famine, war and economic opportunities have caused massive immigration with Mexico being the single largest source of immigrants into the U.S for the longest time. Geographic proximity between the two countries coupled by the large economic disparities has continuously attracted Mexican immigrants through a border that has been poorly patrolled for much of the century. Mexican immigrants are mostly unskilled and work in agriculture, railroad, construction, and mining.
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Trump's administration has successfully made it more difficult for an immigrant to enter the country. He demands expansion of the Mexico border wall which will cost $5.7 billion and threatens to declare a state of emergency if Congress does not approve the idea ( Issitt , 2018) . In recent years U.S immigration policy has included separating thousands of children from their parents at the border to slash the refugee numbers down. Trump's administration continues to make changes that do not require the approval of Congress but have a radical impact on immigration policy making it harder for immigrants using spouse visas to find employment or obtain legal citizenship.
Concurrently, for more than a century, Americans in Mexico have been instrumental in fostering northward migration of Mexicans. In the late 19 th -century, American businessmen swarmed Mexico and seized control of agricultural plantations, oilfields, and railroads. This caused a revolt in the early 20 th century which claimed many lives and allowed northward migration ( Haugen & Musser, 2011) . The government then recruited millions of Mexican workers during World War II. The war on drugs, which is a major immigration factor, has also been bankrolled by American drug cartels with American-bought weapons. Moreover, most illegal migrations do not necessarily take place on the southern border. Thousands of illegal immigrants are captured every year in the coastal and Canadian border. However, the number of residents who overstay their visas exceeds those who cross the border illegally ( Issitt , 2018) . Canadians make up the largest population of such residents who enter by air or sea and overstay. A wall would definitely not address this category of immigrants. Certainly, no one who has crossed the US southern border for the last three decades has been responsible for a terror attack. Finally, Most Americans are openly in opposition to building the wall because it expresses anti-immigration sentiments which clash with American liberal values.
To sum it all up, the immigration problem at US-Mexico border an issue but not a crisis that would call for a national emergency. Illegal immigration should not lead the U.S to deny asylum to needy refugees or build a wall costing billions of dollars on one side of the country denying needy people humanitarian assistance in the name of security and economic concerns.
References
Haugen, D. M., & Musser, S. (2011). Illegal immigration . Farmington Hills, MI: Greenhaven Press.
Issitt, M. L. (2018). Immigration .
