In the War on Terrorism, border security has received renewed attention. Despite the fact that the September 11 terrorists all entered the US legally, the past year has seen an increased drive to tighten security along US borders to prevent future terrorists from entering the nation illegally. In this new context, some Border Patrol projects aim to take advantage of our concerns as a nation to promote agendas focused on stopping the flow of illegal immigration to the US. This is the case with a recently proposed project to build over 260 miles of fencing along the US border with Mexico, effectively sealing of the state of Arizona, which aims to cut off the flow of economic migrants through that state.

The US Border Patrol – a division of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, now part of the Department of Homeland Security – began a crackdown on illegal migration on our southern border in 1994, with a deep intensification of that project in 1996. It began by sealing off major urban areas, which were the centers for migration from Mexico and other points south. One of the strategies used in these operations includes the building of fences to physically block heavily trafficked points of entry. Often these fences are 15-foot high concrete barriers – in many locations they are reinforced by secondary fences of barbed wire. Border fences are usually complemented by stadium-style lighting that keeps the fence lit 24 hours a day and surveillance cameras to monitor activity around the fence. Currently, the longest fence along the border is 14 miles long, physically sealing off San Diego from Tijuana. It is estimated that the total amount of existing fencing along the US-Mexico border totals 70 miles along the 2000-mile border.

The results of these new border-sealing strategies – of which building fences is just one – have been drastic. While they have reduced immigration flows in urban areas to very low levels, the flow of migrants has shifted to less populated areas, where they can enter the US with less chance of being apprehended by the Border Patrol. Arizona has become the most popular crossing state for migrants from the south, and oftentimes, they are crossing through desert and mountainous areas in an attempt to enter the US undetected. As a result, there have been over 2000 documented migrant deaths since 1996, with the majority attributable to exposure to extreme weather and terrain conditions.

The newest fencing proposal is the latest stage in the strategy to seal off the US border with Mexico from illegal immigration. At its heart, it attempts to seal off ¾ of the Arizona border area. In doing so, the fence would cross through seven ecologically sensitive areas, three of which are nationally protected areas, and run through the Tohono O’Odham Native American nation, whose lands are already divided by the border between Mexico and Arizona. The fence would have two gaps in the entire state of Arizona. The first is a twenty-mile wide gap in the Tohono O’Odham reservation, presumably to facilitate the flow of families. The second gap would run from the California border to the western border of Pima County – a 75-mile stretch of pure Sonoran desert described by the Border Patrol as "some of the most isolated [patrol areas] in the nation."

The impact of such a fence on the safety of migrants could be devastating. It has already been documented that the 1996 Border Patrol policy drove migrants into desert areas in search of crossing points, causing a dramatic increase in deaths. With the construction of new fencing, migrants who are currently entering the US through Arizona would now be forced into the Sonora desert in western Arizona or large, sparsely inhabited stretches of the Chihuahuan desert in New Mexico.

Currently, the border fence proposal is in environmental impact review – a process that could force the Border Patrol to look at more environmentally friendly alternatives. But to date, there have been no studies or any requirements to force the Border Patrol to assess the impact of such a project on the lives of migrants.

Congressionally, funding for such fencing projects are being spearheaded by Rep. Jim Kolbe (R-AZ), whose district currently feels the brunt of immigrant crossings into the US. Freshman Raul Grijalva’s (D-AZ) district will carry the majority of the proposed fencing, and initial indications are that he opposes such a project. Working through Congress to stop this project is a viable alternative; however, funding for the fence will be doled out in small amounts to build sections of the fence one at a time. To date, $3million has already been approved to begin constructing new fencing.

If constructed, the new border fence will send a strong signal to people throughout Latin America that they are not welcome in this country. It also reverses the positive movement created at the beginning of the Bush Administration to negotiate immigration accords with Mexico. Upon its completion, the US-Mexico border fence would be the second longest border fence in the world, rivaled only by a similar fence proposed to run along the India-Bangladesh border. The border fence will be a symbolic blow to President Bush’s pronouncements that his administration would begin a new era in US relations with Latin America.

The Mexico subgroup of the LAWG, along with the Border Working Group, a coalition of religious-based organizations that focuses on border issues, will be working alongside environmental organizations to stop the construction of border fencing. For more information on how you or your organization can help, contact