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{{Short description|International border in North America}}
{{For|the physical barrier separating the two countries|Mexico–United States border wall{{!}}Mexico–United States barrier}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2024}}
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| caption = The border between [[Mexico]] and the [[United States]] spans six Mexican states and four U.S. states.
| territory1 = {{MEX}}
| territory2 = <br>{{USA}}
| length = {{convert|3145|km|sp=us}}
| enclaves =
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| notes =
}}
[[File:Border USA Mexico.jpg|thumb|
[[File:Plaque at Mexico United States border.svg|thumb|
{{Mexico–United States border map|collapse=y}}
The '''Mexico–United States border''' ({{lang-es|frontera Estados Unidos–México}}) is an [[
The total length of the continental border is {{convert|3,145|km|mi|abbr=off|sp=us}}. From the Gulf of Mexico, it follows the course of the [[Rio Grande|Rio Grande (Río Bravo del Norte)]] to the border crossing at [[Ciudad Juárez|Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua]], and [[El Paso, Texas]]. Westward from [[El Paso–Juárez]], it crosses vast tracts of the [[Chihuahuan Desert|Chihuahuan]] and [[Sonoran Desert|Sonoran]] deserts to the [[Colorado River Delta]] and [[San Diego–Tijuana]], before reaching the Pacific Ocean.<ref name="us-ibwc-about">{{Cite web |url=http://www.ibwc.gov/About_Us/about_us.html |title=
Four American states border Mexico: [[California]], [[Arizona]], [[New Mexico]] and [[Texas]]. One definition of [[Northern Mexico]] includes only the six Mexican states that border the U.S.: [[Baja California]], [[Chihuahua (state)|Chihuahua]], [[Coahuila]], [[Nuevo León]], [[Sonora]] and [[Tamaulipas]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_DDre5B1lLcC&pg=PA175|title=Consuming Mexican Labor: From the Bracero Program to NAFTA|last1=Mize|first1=Ronald L.|last2=Swords|first2=Alicia C. S.|date=2010|publisher=University of Toronto Press|isbn=978-1-4426-0158-1|pages=175|language=en}}</ref>
==Geography==
[[File:Algodones sand-dune-fence.jpg|thumb|right
The Mexico–United States border extends {{convert|3,145|km|mi|abbr=off|sp=us}}, in addition to the maritime boundaries of {{convert|29|km|mi|abbr=on}} into the [[Pacific Ocean]] and {{convert|19|km|mi|abbr=on}} into the [[Gulf of Mexico]].<ref name="1970BT">{{cite web|url=http://faolex.fao.org/docs/pdf/bi-51757.pdf|title=Treaty to Resolve Pending Boundary Differences and Maintain the Rio Grande and Colorado River as the International Boundary between the United States of America and México|date=November 23, 1970|access-date=December 7, 2014}}</ref><ref name="ssrn">{{cite journal|last=McCarthy|first=Robert J.|date=Spring 2011|title=Executive Authority, Adaptive Treaty Interpretation, and the International Boundary and Water Commission, U.S.–Mexico|journal=Water Law Review|pages=3–5|ssrn=1839903}}</ref> It is the tenth-longest border between two countries in the world.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/countries-with-the-longest-land-borders.html|title=Countries With the Longest Land Borders|website=WorldAtlas|date=August 2019|language=en|access-date=November 1, 2019}}</ref>
The Mexico–U.S. border begins at the [[Initial Point of Boundary Between U.S. and Mexico]], which is set one marine league (three [[nautical mile]]s) south of the southernmost point of [[San Diego Bay]]. The border then proceeds for {{convert|227|km|mi|abbr=on}} in a straight line towards the confluence of the [[Colorado River]] and [[Gila River]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://sandiegohistory.org/journal/v54-1/pdf/Levanetz.pdf|title=A Compromised Country: Redefining the U.S.-Mexico Border|last=Levanetz|first=Joel|website=San Diego History Center|access-date=August 27, 2019}}</ref><ref name=":0" /> The border continues southwards along the Colorado River for {{convert|39|km|mi|abbr=on|sp=us}}, until it reaches a point {{convert|20.|mi|abbr=on|order=flip}} south of the Gila River confluence. The border then follows a series of lines and [[Circle of latitude|parallels]] totaling {{convert|859|km|mi|abbr=on}}. First, it follows a straight line from the Colorado River to the intersection of the 31° 20′ parallel north and the [[111th meridian west]]. It then proceeds eastwards along the 31° 20′ parallel north up to a meridian {{convert|100.|mi|abbr=on|order=flip}} west of the point where the [[Rio Grande]] crosses the 31° 47′ parallel north,<ref name=":0" /> It then proceeds northwards along that meridian up to the 31° 47′ parallel north and then eastwards along that parallel until it meets the Rio Grande.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.library.pima.gov/content/gadsden-purchase/|title=Gadsden Purchase|website=Pima County Public Library|language=en-US|access-date=August 30, 2019}}</ref>
According to the [[International Boundary and Water Commission]],<ref
The [[U.S. state]]s along the border, from west to east, are [[California]], [[Arizona]], [[New Mexico]], and [[Texas]]. The [[Administrative divisions of Mexico|Mexican states]] along the border are [[Baja California]], [[Sonora]], [[Chihuahua (state)|Chihuahua]], [[Coahuila]], [[Nuevo León]], and [[Tamaulipas]]. Among the U.S. states, Texas has the longest stretch of the border with Mexico, while California has the shortest. Among the states in Mexico, Chihuahua has the longest border with the U.S., while Nuevo León has the shortest. Along the border are 23 [[County (United States)|U.S. counties]] and 39 [[Municipalities of Mexico|Mexican municipalities]].
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=== Prior to the Mexican–American War ===
[[File:Mapa Mexico 1842.PNG|thumb|left|
In the mid-16th century, after the discovery of silver, settlers from various countries and backgrounds began to arrive in the area. This period of sparse settlement included colonizers from different backgrounds. The area was part of [[New Spain]]. In the early 19th century, the U.S. bought the lands known as the [[Louisiana Purchase]] from [[France]] and began to expand steadily westward.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/troublesomeborde00osca_0|url-access=registration|title=Troublesome Border|last=Martínez|first=Oscar J.|publisher=University of Arizona Press|year=1988|isbn=978-0-8165-1104-4|location=Tucson}}</ref>
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The [[Mexican Revolution]], caused at least partially by animosity toward foreign ownership of Mexican properties, began in 1910. The revolution increased the political instability in Mexico but did not significantly slow U.S. investment. It did reduce economic development within Mexico, however, and the border regions reflected this. As the infrastructure of communities on the U.S. side continued to improve, the Mexican side began to fall behind in the construction and maintenance of important transportation networks and systems necessary to municipal development.<ref name="Lorey, David E 1999" />
Although the Mexican Revolution caused insecurity in Mexico, it also strained U.S.–Mexico relations. With the Mexican Revolution lasting for 10 years, ending in 1920, and World War I simultaneously occurring between 1914 and 1918, the division between the U.S. and Mexico began to polarize the two nations. [[Mexican Border War (1910–1919)|Constant battles and raids along the border]] made both authorities nervous about borderland security. The [[Zimmermann Telegram|Zimmerman Telegram]], a diplomatic cable sent by Germany but intercepted and decrypted by British intelligence, was meant to bait Mexico into war with the U.S. in order to reconquer what was taken from them during the Mexican-American War. This inspired the U.S. [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] to monitor suspicious activities and potential violence at the border.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Sherman|first=John W.|date=Fall 2016|title=Fascist 'Gold Shirts' on the Río Grande: Borderlands Intrigue in the Time of Lázaro Cárdenas<!-- |disabled url, this link is utterly useless for anyone not inside byu. url=http://web.a.ebscohost.com.erl.lib.byu.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=20&sid=bfddb08a-48ad-4e62-9fcf-0656cd14af09%40sdc-v-sessmgr01-->|journal=Journal of South Texas|volume=30|pages=8–21}}</ref> Within 10 years, frequent provocations caused border towns to transform into battlefields, which intensified transborder restrictions, brought federal soldiers to patrol the border, and caused the construction of fences and barriers between border towns. When the battles concluded, restrictions for crossing the border were relaxed and most soldiers were sent home; however, the fences remained as a physical reminder of the division between the two nations. As years passed, more fences and higher barriers were established as attentions focused on the boundary demarcation between the U.S. and Mexico.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Line in the Sand: A History of the Western U.S.-Mexico Border|url=https://archive.org/details/linesandhistoryw00john|url-access=limited|last=St. John|first=Rachel|publisher=Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press|year=2011|isbn=978-0-691-15613-2|pages=[https://archive.org/details/linesandhistoryw00john/page/n16 4]}}</ref>
The first international bridge was the [[Brownsville & Matamoros International Bridge]] built in 1910. The first barrier built by the U.S. was between 1909 and 1911 in California, the first barrier built by Mexico was likely in 1918; barriers were extended in the 1920s and 1940s.<ref>{{cite web |last1=John |first1=Rachel St |title=The Raging Controversy at the Border Began With This Incident 100 Years Ago |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/raging-controversy-border-began-100-years-ago-180969343/ |website=Smithsonian Magazine |language=en}}</ref>
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}}
[[File:Borderwallbrownsvile.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Climbing the [[Mexico–United States barrier]] fence in [[Brownsville, Texas]]]]
The border separating Mexico and the U.S. is the most frequently crossed international boundary in the world,<ref name="BGTG">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hknZxFWtWnQC&pg=PA75|title=Retirement Without Borders: How to Retire Abroad{{snd}}in Mexico, France, Italy, Spain, Costa Rica, Panama, and Other Sunny, Foreign Places|last=Golson|first=Barry|publisher=[[Simon & Schuster]]|year=2008|isbn=978-0-7432-9701-1|location=New York, New York|page=75|author2=Thia Golson|access-date=March 9, 2011}}</ref><ref name="auto">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aHYt0RNSDfgC&q=most%20frequently%20crossed%20border%20guinness&pg=PA457|title=Guinness World Records 2009|last=Glenday|first=Craig|publisher=Random House Digital, Inc.|year=2009|isbn=978-0-553-59256-6|page=457|access-date=March 9, 2011}}</ref> with approximately 350 million legal crossings taking place annually.<ref name="BGTG" /><ref name="google.com">{{cite news |title=US, Mexico open first new border crossing in 10 years |location=Washington |url=https://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jHLM81sN-H02Sf1CANZvBoE9mUwA |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140228012612/https://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jHLM81sN-H02Sf1CANZvBoE9mUwA |archive-date=February 28, 2014 |newspaper=[[Agence France-Presse|AFP]] |date=January 12, 2010 |access-date=December 3, 2012 |quote=The US–Mexico border is the busiest in the world, with approximately 350 million crossings per year. }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nmsu.edu/~bec/BEC/Readings/10.USMBHC-TheBorderAtAGlance.pdf |title=The United States–Mexico Border Region at a Glance |website=United States–Mexico Border Health Commission |publisher=New Mexico State University |access-date=December 3, 2012 |quote=In 2001, over 300 million two-way border crossings took place at the 43 POEs. |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120915105245/http://www.nmsu.edu/~bec/BEC/Readings/10.USMBHC-TheBorderAtAGlance.pdf |archive-date=September 15, 2012 }}</ref>
[[File:Bridge of the Americas (El Paso–Ciudad Juárez), June 2016.jpg|thumb|right|Going into Mexico from El Paso, Texas, U.S.]]
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It has influenced the every day lifestyle of people that live in these [[border town]]s.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/02/08/world/americas/before-the-wall-life-along-the-us-mexico-border.html|title=Before the Wall: Life Along the U.S.-Mexico Border|last=Ahmed|first=Azam|newspaper=The New York Times |date=February 8, 2017 |access-date=July 27, 2018|language=en}}</ref> Along the coast of Baja California, there are neighborhoods of Americans living in Tijuana, [[Rosarito Beach]], and [[Ensenada, Baja California|Ensenada]], whose residents commute to the U.S. daily to work.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Yogerst|first1=Joe|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fk3uzf9zSwAC&pg=PA341|title=Traveler's Companion California|last2=Mellin|first2=Maribeth|date=2002|publisher=Globe Pequot|isbn=978-0-7627-2203-7|page=341|access-date=September 8, 2014}}</ref> Additionally, many Mexicans also enter the U.S. to commute daily to work.<ref>{{cite book|last=Levine|first=Robert N.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IXq7CdAiQOQC&pg=PA190|title=A Geography Of Time: On Tempo, Culture, And The Pace Of Life|date=2008|publisher=Basic Books|isbn=978-0-7867-2253-2|page=190|access-date=September 8, 2014}}</ref> In 1999, 7.6% of the labor force of Tijuana was employed in San Diego.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Mendoza|first1=Cristobal|title=Transboundary Policy Challenges in the Pacific Border Regions of North America|last2=Loucky|first2=James|date=2008|publisher=University of Calgary Press|isbn=978-1-55238-223-3|editor-last1=Alper|editor-first=Donald K.|page=55|chapter=Recent Trends in Mexico-U.S. Border Demographics|editor-last2=Day|editor-first2=John Chadwick|editor-last3=Loucky|editor-first3=James|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KDc2r0SC5PIC&pg=PA55}}</ref>
[[File:San Diego San Ysidro 01.jpg|thumb|Entrance to Mexico from San Diego, California, United States of America]]
The average wait time to cross into the U.S. is approximately an hour.<ref name="MESA" /> The thousands of vehicles that transit through the border every day is causing air pollution in San Ysidro and Tijuana.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.voiceofsandiego.org/topics/science-environment/san-ysidro-is-getting-a-clearer-look-at-just-how-polluted-it-is/|title=San Ysidro Is Getting a Clearer Look at Just How Polluted it is|date=April 23, 2018|work=Voice of San Diego|access-date=July 27, 2018|language=en-US}}</ref> The emission of [[Carbon monoxide poisoning|carbon monoxide (CO)]] and other vehicle related air contaminants have been linked to health complications such as cardiovascular disease, lung cancer, birth outcomes, premature death, obesity, asthma and other respiratory diseases.<ref name="sandag">{{Cite web|url=https://www.sandag.org/uploads/publicationid/publicationid_1933_18945.pdf|title=Border Health Equity Transportation Study|date=February 27, 2015}}</ref> The high levels of traffic collusion and the extended wait times has affected the mental health, stress levels, and aggressive behavior of the people who cross frequently.<ref name="sandag" />
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===Veterinary inspections===
[[File:Mexico Baja California passport stamp.jpg|
When animals are imported from one country to another, there is the possibility that diseases and parasites can move with them. Thus, most countries impose animal health regulations on the import of animals. Most animals imported to the U.S. must be accompanied by import permits obtained in advance from the [[United States Department of Agriculture|U.S. Department of Agriculture]]'s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) and/or health certification papers from the country of origin.
Veterinary inspections are often required, and are available only at designated ports;<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.aphis.usda.gov/vs/ncie/portlist.html|title=Ports Designated for the Importation of Animals|publisher=Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS)|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070202135654/http://www.aphis.usda.gov/vs/ncie/portlist.html|archive-date=February 2, 2007|access-date=October 5, 2011}}
</ref> advance contact with port veterinarians is recommended.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.aphis.usda.gov/vs/ncie/portvet.html|title=Port Veterinarian List|publisher=Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS)|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061209004821/http://www.aphis.usda.gov/vs/ncie/portvet.html|archive-date=December 9, 2006|access-date=October 5, 2011}}</ref> Animals crossing the U.S.–Mexico border may have a country of origin other than the country where they present for inspection. Such animals include those from the U.S. that cross to Mexico and return, and animals from other countries that travel overland through Mexico or the U.S. before crossing the border.
[[File:Tijuana Border Traffic.jpg|thumb|left|Thousands of cars sit from fifteen minutes to two hours waiting to cross the border.<ref name="MESA">{{Cite news|url=http://www.otaymesa.org/border-waiting/|title=Border Wait Times and Border Crossing Statistics |work=otaymesa.org|access-date=July 27, 2018|language=en-US}}</ref>]] APHIS imposes precautions to keep out several equine diseases, including [[glanders]], [[Covering sickness|dourine]], [[equine infectious anemia]], [[Babesiosis|equine piroplasmosis]], [[Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus|Venezuelan equine encephalitis]], and [[contagious equine metritis]].<ref name="APHIS1997">{{cite web|url=http://permanent.access.gpo.gov/lps3025/imphorse.html|title=Equine Importation|publisher=Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS)|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101017004412/http://www.aphis.usda.gov/import_export/animals/animal_import/equine/equine_import_quarantine.shtml|archive-date=October 17, 2010|access-date=October 5, 2011}}</ref> APHIS also checks horses to prevent the introduction of [[tick]]s and other parasites. In the Lower Rio Grande Valley, U.S. Department of Agriculture inspectors look for horses and livestock that stray across the border carrying ticks. These animals are often called wetstock, and the inspectors are referred to as tickriders.<ref name="Miller2000">{{cite book |last=Miller |first=Tom |title=On the Border: Portraits of America's Southwestern Frontier |publisher=iUniverse |year=2000 |isbn=978-0-8165-0943-0 |pages=72–73}}</ref>
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Import from the U.S. to Mexico requires evidence within the prior 45 days of freedom from EIA, among other requirements.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.aphis.usda.gov/NCIE/iregs/animals/mx_eq_040406.pdf|title=Import health requirements of Mexico for horses (non slaughter) exported from the United States|date=December 2005|publisher=Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS)|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090419233214/http://www.aphis.usda.gov/regulations/vs/iregs/animals/downloads/mx_eq.pdf|archive-date=April 19, 2009|access-date=October 5, 2011}}</ref>
==
===Background===
[[File:Canyon, Rio Grande, Texas.jpeg|thumb|right|The [[Big Bend National Park]] is located at the border.]]
Data from the U.S. Border Patrol Agency's 2010 annual report shows that among the total number of border crossings without documentation from various countries into the U.S., 90% were from Mexico alone. In addition, there are more than 6 million undocumented Mexican nationals residing in the U.S.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.nap.edu/read/13498/chapter/1#ii|title=Options for Estimating Illegal Entries at the U.S.–Mexico Border The National Academies Press|publisher=The National Academies Press|year=2013|isbn=978-0-309-26426-6|location=Washington D.C.|language=en|doi=10.17226/13498}}</ref> The border has a very high rate of documented and undocumented migrant crossings every year. With such a high rate of people crossing annually to the U.S., the country has invested in several distinct security measures.
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According to Vulliamy, one in five Mexican nationals will visit or work in the U.S. at one point in their lifetime.<ref name="Vulliamy2010">{{cite book|last=Vulliamy|first=Ed|url=https://archive.org/details/amexicawaralongb00vull|title=Amexica: War Along the Borderline|date=2010|publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux|isbn=978-0-374-10441-2}}</ref> As of 2010, the border is guarded by more than 20,000 Border Patrol agents, more than at any time in its history.<ref name="2010-06-fact sheet">{{cite web |last=U.S. Department of Homeland Security |title=Fact Sheet: Southwest Border Next Steps |date=June 23, 2010 |url=https://www.dhs.gov/ynews/releases/pr_1277310093825.shtm |access-date=August 6, 2010}}</ref> The border is paralleled by [[United States Border Patrol interior checkpoints|U.S. Border Patrol interior checkpoints]] on major roads generally between {{convert|25|and|75|mi|abbr=on|order=flip|km}} from the U.S. side of the border, and [[garitas]] generally within {{Convert|50.|km|abbr=on}} of the border on the Mexican side.<ref name="GAO2005">{{cite web|url=http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d05435.pdf|title=Border Patrol: Available Data on Interior Checkpoints Suggest Differences in Sector Performance|publisher=[[United States General Accounting Office]]|date=July 2005}}</ref><ref name="GAO2009">{{cite web|url=http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d09824.pdf|title=Border Patrol: Checkpoints Contribute to Border Patrol's Mission, but More Consistent Data Collection and Performance Measurement Could Improve Effectiveness|publisher=[[United States General Accounting Office]]|date=August 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.aduanas.sat.gob.mx/aduana_mexico/2007/RCGMCE/2007/Anexo_25.doc |author=Aduana Mexico|year= 2007|title= Aduanas 25 de las Reglas de Caracter General en Materia de Comercio Exterior para 2007|language=es|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120224013954/http://www.aduanas.sat.gob.mx/aduana_mexico/2007/RCGMCE/2007/Anexo_25.doc |archive-date=February 24, 2012}}</ref>
[[File:Sinaloa Cartel Drug Tunnel.jpg|thumb|[[Illegal drug trade|Drug trafficking]] tunnel under the U.S.–Mexico border used by the [[Sinaloa Cartel]]]]▼
▲[[File:Sinaloa Cartel Drug Tunnel.jpg|thumb|[[Illegal drug trade|Drug trafficking]] tunnel under the U.S.–Mexico border used by the [[Sinaloa Cartel]]]]
There are an estimated half a million [[Illegal entry|illegal entries]] into the U.S. each year.<ref name="GAO-06-770">{{cite web |url=http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d06770.pdf |publisher=Government Accountability Office |title=Illegal Immigration – Border-Crossing Deaths Have Doubled Since 1995; Border Patrol's Efforts to Prevent Deaths Have Not Been Fully Evaluated |page=42 |date=August 2006}}</ref> Border Patrol activity is concentrated around border cities such as San Diego and El Paso which have extensive border fencing. This means that the flow of illegal immigrants is diverted into rural mountainous and desert areas, leading to several hundred [[Migrant deaths along the Mexico–United States border|migrant deaths along the Mexico–U.S. border]] of those attempting to cross into the U.S. from Mexico illegally and vice versa.<ref name="GAO-06-770" />
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The [[Human Rights Watch]] cited on April 22, 2020, that a U.S.–Mexico border shutdown could be expected following the [[Coronavirus disease 2019|COVID-19]] public health emergency. According to HRW, the new rule introduced by the [[Centers for Disease Control and Prevention|CDC]] overlooks the fact that the U.S. is obligated to protect refugees from return to conditions threatening prosecution, as per treaties.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/04/22/tell-trump-administration-protect-asylum-seekers|title=Tell the Trump Administration to Protect Asylum Seekers |access-date=April 22, 2020|website=Human Rights Watch|date=April 22, 2020 }}</ref>
President Joe Biden's border executive plan as the COVID-19 restrictions
Under Title 42, which had been in effect since March 2020, many border crossers have been quickly deported to Mexico without a chance for asylum.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Blake |first1=Michael |title=Border crossings top 10,000 daily as migrants seek US entry before Title 42 ends |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/us/biden-restricts-asylum-access-mexico-border-title-42-ends-2023-05-10/ |work=Reuters |date=2023}}</ref>
===Barrier===
{{main|Mexico–United States barrier}}
The U.S. government had plans in 2006, during the [[Presidency of George W. Bush|Bush administration]], to erect a border fence along the Mexico–U.S. border. The controversial proposal included creating many individual fences. Almost {{Convert|600.|mi|km|abbr=on|order=flip}} of fence were constructed, with each of the individual fences composed of steel and concrete.<ref name="Vulliamy2010" /> In between these fences are infrared cameras and sensors, National Guard soldiers, and SWAT teams on alert, giving rise to the term "virtual fence".<ref name="Vulliamy2010" /> Construction on the fence began in 2006, with each mile costing the U.S. government about $2.8 million.<ref name="Hodge, Roger D. 2012">{{cite journal|last=Hodge|first= Roger D. |title=Borderworld: How the U.S. Is Reengineering Homeland Security|url=http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2011-12/how-us-reengineering-homeland-security-borders|journal=Popular Science |volume=280 |issue= 1|year= 2012|pages= 56–81}}</ref> In 2010, the initiative was terminated because of costs, after having completed {{convert|640.|mi|km|abbr=on|order=flip}} of either barrier fence or vehicle barriers, that were either new or had been rebuilt over older, inferior fencing. The [[Boeing]]-built SBI-net systems of using radar, watchtowers, and sensors (without a fence or physical barrier) were scrapped for being over budget, full of glitches, and far behind schedule.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/16/AR2010031603573.html|title=Work to cease on 'virtual fence' along U.S.–Mexico border|last=Hsu|first=Spencer S.|date=March 16, 2010|newspaper=The Washington Post}}</ref>
<gallery mode="packed" heights="170">
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In 2019, there have been humanitarian crises on the border because of lack of resources. Migrant children have specifically been affected.<ref name="roguerocket.com">Stenn, L. (June 25, 2019). Hundreds of Migrant Children Moved From Border Facility After Poor Conditions Exposed. Retrieved from https://roguerocket.com/2019/06/25/hundreds-of-migrant-children-moved-from-border-facility-after-poor-conditions-exposed/</ref> Democratic members of the House of Representatives introduced legislation that would aid the humanitarian crisis by giving $4.5 billion to emergency spending to address the humanitarian crisis at the border, with significant funding for priorities including legal assistance, food, water, and medical services, support services for unaccompanied children, alternatives to detention, and refugee services.<ref>House Democrats Introduce Emergency Border Supplemental. (June 21, 2019). Retrieved from https://appropriations.house.gov/news/press-releases/house-democrats-introduce-emergency-border-supplemental</ref>
Distribution of natural resources across the border has also been a major challenge, particularly for water use and water quality. Toxic sewage flowing into Mexico, and over-consumption of water from the Colorado River Basin and middle-lower Rio Grande have been central to the conflict. Large-scale infrastructure investments may be necessary to address the growing water and energy issues in this arid region.<ref name="Applied Energy 2021 p.
=== Trump administration ===
[[File:2019 US Meixco Border Crossing apprehension (48036606282).jpg|thumb|U.S. Border Patrol agents review documents of individuals suspected of attempted illegal entry in 2019.]]
In 2016, Republican nominee for president [[Donald Trump]] proposed building a border wall to control immigration. He declared that, as president, he would force Mexico to pay all costs.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/30/politics/donald-trump-enrique-pea-nieto-mexico/|title=Mexican president disputes Trump over border wall payment discussion|first1=Stephen|last1=Collinson|first2=Jeremy|last2=Diamond|website=CNN|date=September 1, 2016|access-date=October 7, 2016}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-37243269|title=How realistic is Donald Trump's Mexico wall?|date=September 1, 2016|website=BBC News|language=en-GB|access-date=October 7, 2016}}</ref> On January 25, 2017, several days after his inauguration and two days in advance of a planned meeting in Washington, D.C., with Mexican President [[Enrique Peña Nieto]], new U.S. president Trump signed [[Executive Order 13767]] to enable the building of the wall.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-38740717|title=Trump orders wall to be built on Mexico border|date=January 26, 2017|website=BBC News|language=en-GB|access-date=January 26, 2017}}</ref> Peña Nieto denied that Mexico would pay for the wall and declined the meeting.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-38753826|title=Mexico: We will not pay for Trump border wall|date=January 26, 2017|website=BBC News|language=en-GB|access-date=January 26, 2017}}</ref> Shortly after, Trump announced that he intended to impose a 20% tariff on Mexican goods.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-mexico-idUSKBN15A1VF|title=Trump seeks 20 percent tax on Mexico goods to pay for wall, crisis deepens|date=January 26, 2017|website=Reuters|language=en-GB|access-date=January 26, 2017}}</ref> Mexico did not make any payments
On September 20, 2017, [[Attorney General of California|California Attorney General]] [[Xavier Becerra]] filed a lawsuit alleging that the Trump administration has overstepped its powers in expediting construction of a border wall.<ref>{{cite news|first1=Patrick|last1=McGreevy|first2=Jazmine|last2=Ulloa|website=Los Angeles Times|url=https://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-ca-xavier-becerra-trump-wall-lawsuit-20170920-story.html|title=California again steps up to Trump, this time to stop the border wall|date=September 20, 2017|url-access=limited}}</ref><ref>[[State of California Department of Justice]], September 20, 2017: [https://oag.ca.gov/news/press-releases/attorney-general-becerra-constitution-rule-law-barriers-trump-border-wall ''Attorney General Becerra: Constitution, Rule of Law Barriers to Trump Border Wall''] (Press Release)</ref> As of the end of 2017, Mexico had not agreed to pay any amount toward the wall, no new tariffs on Mexican goods had been considered by the U.S. Congress,<ref name="payforwall">{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/republicans-skeptical-about-paying-for-wall-as-trump-prepares-to-release-budget/2017/03/15/dd2b5848-099b-11e7-b77c-0047d15a24e0_story.html|title=Republicans skeptical about paying for wall as Trump releases budget|first1=Sean|last1=Sullivan|first2=Kelsey|last2=Snell|date=March 16, 2017|access-date=April 9, 2018|newspaper=Washington Post|url-access=limited}}</ref> the U.S. Congress had not appropriated funding for a wall, and no further wall construction had started beyond what was already planned during the [[Presidency of Barack Obama|Obama administration]].<ref name="payforwall" />
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In June 2018, the Trump administration established a [[Trump administration family separation policy|new policy of separating parents from their children at the Mexican border]]. People asking for asylum at official ports of entry were "being turned away and told there's no room for them now."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/6/5/17428640/border-families-asylum-illegal|title=Trump keeps making it harder for people to seek asylum legally|publisher=Vox|date=June 5, 2018|access-date=June 20, 2018}}</ref> The U.S. and Mexico mutually placed tariffs on each other's exports.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Aleem |first1=Zeeshan |title=Trump hit Mexico with steel tariffs. Mexico is hitting back – and targeting Republicans|url=https://www.vox.com/world/2018/6/6/17433654/mexico-tariffs-us-goods-trump-trade |access-date=March 7, 2019 |website=Vox |date=June 6, 2018}}</ref>
[[File:Cerco fronterizo de H. Nogales y Nogales.jpg|thumb|left
On November 8, 2018, the Trump administration announced new rules to deny asylum to anyone who crosses into the U.S. illegally from any nation, at Trump's discretion. This was based on the Supreme Court decision of ''[[Trump v. Hawaii]]'' and the presidential powers of the [[Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965]].<ref>{{cite web | url = https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/08/us/politics/trump-asylum-seekers-executive-order.html | title= Trump Claims New Power to Bar Asylum for Immigrants Who Arrive Illegally | first = Michael | last = Shear | date = November 8, 2018 | access-date = December 21, 2018 | work = [[The New York Times]] | url-access = limited}}</ref> Trump signed a proclamation the next day to specify that people crossing the Mexican border illegally would not qualify for asylum; he called the march of migrants from Central America towards the U.S. a "crisis".<ref name="nytimes asylum 20181109">{{cite web | url = https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/09/us/politics/trump-asylum-seekers-executive-order.html | title= Trump Suspends Some Asylum Rights, Calling Illegal Immigration 'a Crisis' | first1 = Michael | last1= Shear | first2 = Eileen | last2= Sullivan | date= November 9, 2018 | access-date = December 21, 2018 | work =[[The New York Times]] | url-access = limited}}</ref> Civil rights groups strongly criticized the move, and several groups, including the [[Southern Poverty Law Center]], the [[American Civil Liberties Union]], and the [[Center for Constitutional Rights]], filed a lawsuit in the [[United States District Court for the Northern District of California|U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California]] to challenge the proclamation.<ref name="nytimes asylum 20181109" /> Judge [[Jon S. Tigar]] ruled in favor of the advocacy groups on November 20, 2018, placing an injunction on the administration to delay implementation of the rule.<ref>{{cite web | url = https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/20/us/judge-denies-trump-asylum-policy.html | title = Federal Judge Blocks Trump's Proclamation Targeting Some Asylum Seekers | first= Miriam | last= Jordan | date = November 20, 2018 | access-date= December 21, 2018 |work = [[The New York Times]] | url-access = limited}}</ref> The administration appealed to the [[United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit|Ninth Circuit]], where a divided 2-1 panel ruled that the new asylum rules were inconsistent with existing law and upheld the injunction.<ref>{{cite web| url = https://apnews.com/1833470d0588418b9c686a61a5de662e | title = US appeals court won't immediately allow Trump asylum ban | date = December 7, 2018 | access-date = April 26, 2020 | website = AP News | first = Sudhin | last = Thanawala }}</ref> On December 21, 2018, the Supreme Court declined to hear the administration's challenge, leaving the injunction in place and preventing the asylum ban from being enforced.<ref>{{cite web | url = https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/21/politics/supreme-court-upholds-block-on-trumps-asylum-ban/index.html | title= Supreme Court upholds block on Trump's asylum ban | first1= Caroline | last1= Kelly | first2 = Ariane | last2 = de Vogue | date= December 21, 2018 | access-date = December 21, 2018 | work = [[CNN]] }}</ref>
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==== Proposed wall ====
{{Main|Trump wall}}
[[File:United States-Mexico-border-wall-Progreso-Lakes-Texas.jpeg|thumb|right
While running for president, Trump
In the summer of 2017, four major construction companies planned to bid for the contract. The Customs and Border Protection agency budgeted $20 million to hire these companies to build half-million-dollar prototypes of the wall. At this time, Congress had only approved $341 million to maintain the existing wall; no funds had been allocated to build new sections of wall.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/31/us/mexico-wall-prototypes-trump.html |title=U.S. Moves to Build Prototypes for Mexican Border Wall |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |first=Ron |last=Nixon |date=August 31, 2017 |access-date=August 27, 2018 |url-access=limited}}</ref> The DHS recommended that the wall's height should be between {{cvt|18.|and|30.|ft|abbr=off|order=flip|sigfig=2}} and its depth should be up to {{cvt|6.|ft|order=flip}} to deter drug traffickers from building tunnels.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Wall: The real costs of a barrier between the United States and Mexico|first=Vanda|last=Felbab-Brown|date=August 2017|url=https://www.brookings.edu/essay/the-wall-the-real-costs-of-a-barrier-between-the-united-states-and-mexico/|website=The Brookings Institution|access-date=April 26, 2020}}</ref>
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The U.S. Border Patrol detained more than 1.7 million migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border illegally in fiscal year 2021, the highest number ever recorded.<ref>{{cite news |title=Record high migrant detentions at US-Mexico border |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-59019791 |work=BBC News |date=October 23, 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Situation at the southern border worse that you probably realize |url=https://thehill.com/opinion/immigration/581513-situation-at-the-southern-border-worse-that-you-probably-realize |work=The Hill |date=November 15, 2021}}</ref> A greater demographic diversity of southwest border apprehensions have been noted in 2021.<ref>Stef W. Kight. (January 30, 2022). "U.S. border draws migrants from Russia, Ukraine".
[https://www.axios.com/us-border-migrants-russia-ukraine-651b35ab-8cf1-480c-afe5-8961e9c98e45.html Axios website] Retrieved January 31, 2022.</ref>
On October 31, 2023, Homeland Security Secretary [[Alejandro Mayorkas]] testified before the [[United States Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs|Senate Homeland Security Committee]] that more than 600,000 people illegally made their way into the United States without being apprehended by border agents during the 2023 fiscal year.<ref>{{cite news |title=WATCH LIVE: FBI Director Wray, DHS head Mayorkas testify in Senate hearing on threats to U.S. |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKn948LUX8I&ab_channel=PBSNewsHour |work=PBS NewsHour |date=October 31, 2023 |access-date=December 11, 2023 |archive-date=December 11, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231211102151/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKn948LUX8I&ab_channel=PBSNewsHour |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Mayorkas confirms over 600,000 illegal immigrants evaded law enforcement at southern border last fiscal year |url=https://www.foxnews.com/politics/mayorkas-confirms-over-600k-illegal-immigrants-evaded-law-enforcement-southern-border |work=Fox News |date=October 31, 2023 |access-date=December 11, 2023 |archive-date=December 11, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231211102151/https://www.foxnews.com/politics/mayorkas-confirms-over-600k-illegal-immigrants-evaded-law-enforcement-southern-border |url-status=live }}</ref>
On February 8, 2024, a group of 24 House Republicans wrote a letter<ref>{{Cite web |title=Letter - PDF |url=https://weber.house.gov/uploadedfiles/border_letter_to_potus_final.pdf}}</ref> to urge President Biden not to federalize the Texas National Guard in the midst of Texas wanting to crack down on the spike of illegal immigration on the U.S.-Mexico border.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Timotija |first=Filip |date=February 8, 2024 |title=Republicans tell Biden not to take control of Texas National Guard amid standoff over border |url=https://thehill.com/homenews/house/4456459-republicans-biden-not-take-control-texas-national-guard-border/ |access-date=February 9, 2024 |website=The Hill |language=en-US}}</ref>
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No More Deaths (''No Más Muertes'') is a [[non-governmental organization]] (NGO) headquartered in [[Tucson, Arizona|Tucson]] that is designed to assist in ending death and suffering of immigrants along the U.S.-Mexico border by upholding fundamental human rights. Elemental services of No More Deaths is to provide humanitarian assistance, giving food and first aid treatment, witness and respond to human rights abuses, encouraging humane immigration policy, and making phone calls to relatives of immigrants.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Bird|first=Jo|date=November 2014|title=Human Rights on the US/Mexico Border<!-- |disabled url, this link is utterly useless for anyone who does not have access to ebscohosturl=http://web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=3&sid=ec1dca85-5d92-4e29-8d58-31f9431edecb%40sdc-v-sessmgr05 -->|journal=Pandora's Box (1835-8624)|volume=21|pages=94–101}}</ref> Since its founding in 2004, No More Deaths has provided assistance to thousands of migrant border crossers; however the Border Patrol and other public land agencies near the U.S.–Mexico border have challenged the efforts of various humanitarian groups, by following immigrants to a medical volunteer camp and raiding it.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.statnews.com/2017/07/06/immigration-desert-clinic/|title=After Trump's immigration crackdown, a desert clinic tries to save lives without breaking the law|last=Boodman|first=Eric|date=July 6, 2017|work=STAT|access-date=December 1, 2018}}</ref> Humanitarian groups along the border have been tested by Border Patrol and other agencies, however the authority of the Trump administration has introduced a new tier of restriction through surveillance, harassment, and intimidation to border relief efforts.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Smith|first=Sophie|date=October 2017|title=No More Deaths: Direct Aid in the US-Mexico Border Zone|journal=South Atlantic Quarterly|volume=116|pages=851–862|doi=10.1215/00382876-116-4-851}}</ref>
[[File:Tijuana-san diego border deaths.jpg|thumb|left
Incidence rates of HIV and tuberculosis are higher in border towns such as El Paso and Ciudad Juárez than at the national level in both countries. The Nuestra Casa Initiative tried to counter the health disparities by using a cross-border strategy that moved around an exhibit prominent in various museums and universities.<ref>Moya, Eva, et al. "Nuestra Casa: An Advocacy Initiative to Reduce Inequalities and Tuberculosis along the US–Mexico Border." ''International Public Health Journal'', vol. 8, no. 2, 2016, pp. 107–119.</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Moya, Eva |last2=Chavez-Baray, Silvia |last3=Wood, William W. |last4=Martinez, Omar |title=Nuestra Casa: An advocacy initiative to reduce inequalities and tuberculosis along the US–Mexico border |journal=International Public Health Journal |date=2016 |volume=8 |issue=2 |pages=107–119 |language=en |issn=1947-4989|pmid=30245778 |pmc=6150456 }}</ref> Similarly, special action groups as part of the Border Health Strategic Initiative created by the [[University of Arizona]] with other groups helped create a healthier Hispanic community in Arizona border towns by creating policy and infrastructure changes.<ref name="CohenMeister2016">{{cite journal|last1=Cohen|first1=Stuart J.|last2=Meister|first2=Joel S.|last3=deZapien|first3=Jill G.|title=Special Action Groups for Policy Change and Infrastructure Support to Foster Healthier Communities on the Arizona–Mexico Border|journal=Public Health Reports|volume=119|issue=1|year=2016|pages=40–47|issn=0033-3549|doi=10.1177/003335490411900110|pmid=15147648|pmc=1502256}}</ref> These groups provided humanitarian assistance to counter the prominence of Type 2 diabetes among the Hispanic community by acquiring a grant for new walking trails and encouraging public elementary schools to provide healthier food choices for students.<ref name="CohenMeister2016" />
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Immigrants are considered easy targets by gang members, because they do not have the strength to resist aggressive offenders and end up left with nothing. In June 2018, [[United States Attorney General|U.S. Attorney General]] [[Jeff Sessions]] disqualified victims of gangs or domestic violence to be reasonable causes for asylum seekers.<ref>{{Cite magazine|last=Rhodan|first=Maya|date=November 2018|title=Give Me Shelter<!-- |disabled url, this link is utterly useless for anyone outside byu url=http://web.a.ebscohost.com.erl.lib.byu.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=5&sid=bfddb08a-48ad-4e62-9fcf-0656cd14af09%40sdc-v-sessmgr01 -->|magazine=Time|volume=192|pages=36–41}}</ref>
[[File:BigBendMexicans.jpeg|thumb|right
Not only do these Hispanic communities face health inequalities, but political inequalities as well.<ref>{{cite news|first=Suzanne|last=Gamboa|date=February 26, 2019|title=Racism, not a lack of assimilation, is the real problem facing Latinos in America|website=NBC News|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/racism-not-lack-assimilation-real-problem-facing-latinos-america-n974021}}</ref> The need for political change was so huge that it has encouraged Hispanic women to engage in activism at a local level. The Neighborhood Action Group in Chula Vista, California, is one of the groups that attracted the help of local Hispanic women to implement a feminist perspective in activism in spite of the social and economic obstacles as well as Assembly Bill No. 775, 2005 that prohibited children being used as interpreters.<ref name="BoscoAitken2011">{{cite journal|last1=Bosco|first1=Fernando J.|last2=Aitken|first2=Stuart C.|last3=Herman|first3=Thomas|title=Women and children in a neighborhood advocacy group: engaging community and refashioning citizenship at the United States–Mexico border|journal=Gender, Place & Culture|volume=18|issue=2|year=2011|pages=155–178|issn=0966-369X|doi=10.1080/0966369X.2010.551652|s2cid=144414124}}</ref> These humanitarian groups have implemented various strategies to pursue their goals that ultimately try to counter the number of immigrant deaths and abuses in immigrant detention even if it means the criminalization and higher levels of discrimination against them.<ref name="AndroffTavassoli2012">{{cite journal|last1=Androff|first1=D. K.|last2=Tavassoli|first2=K. Y.|title=Deaths in the Desert: The Human Rights Crisis on the U.S.–Mexico Border|journal=Social Work|volume=57|issue=2|year=2012|pages=165–173|issn=0037-8046|doi=10.1093/sw/sws034|url=https://asu.pure.elsevier.com/en/publications/deaths-in-the-desert-the-human-rights-crisis-on-the-us-mexico-bor|pmid=23038878}}</ref>
In Mexico, most humanitarian groups focus on assisting the deportees. As rates of deportation increase, "the deportation of many individuals is becoming more and more notable" in the streets of Mexico cities.<ref name=":02">{{Cite web|url=http://www.atencionsanmiguel.org/2018/02/16/new-organization-emerges-to-aid-deported-mexican-nationals/|title=New Organization Emerges to Aid Deported Mexican Nationals {{!}} San Miguel de Allende {{!}} Atención San Miguel|website=Atencionsanmiguel.org|language=en-US|access-date=April 6, 2018|archive-date=April 7, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180407054208/http://www.atencionsanmiguel.org/2018/02/16/new-organization-emerges-to-aid-deported-mexican-nationals/|url-status=dead}}</ref> As a result, many humanitarian groups have formed in Mexican cities where undocumented individuals are deported such as [[Nogales, Sonora]]. The humanitarian groups consist of faith-based communities and primarily non-profit organizations that assist deportees, many of whom do not have any resources with them such as money, food, or family information, and who would otherwise become homeless and emotionally and psychologically devastated.<ref>{{
In June 2019, 300 migrant children were moved from a detention facility in [[Clint, Texas]], after a group of lawyers who visited reported unsafe and unsanitary conditions.<ref name="roguerocket.com" /> In the same month, the body of Óscar Alberto Martínez and his 23-month-old daughter, Angie Valeria, were found dead in the Rio Grande River. The family was from El Salvador, attempting to cross from Mexico into the U.S. near [[Brownsville, Texas]].<ref>{{cite news|first1=Christina|last1=Maxouris|first2=Steve|last2=Almasy|first3=Natalie|last3=Gallón|date=June 27, 2019|title=A woman watched her husband and daughter drown at the Mexican border, report says|url=https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/26/politics/mexico-father-daughter-dead-rio-grande-wednesday/|website=CNN}}</ref> Gaining attention from the media, the House passed a bill, appropriating $4.5 billion for resources at the border.<ref>{{cite news|first1=Rebecca|last1=Shabad|first2=Leigh Ann|last2=Caldwell|date=June 25, 2019|title=House passes border funding bill to address humanitarian crisis|website=NBC News|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/house-passes-border-funding-bill-address-humanitarian-crisis-n1021511}}</ref>
==
Per the [[Environmental issues along the Mexico–United States border#La Paz Agreement|La Paz Agreement]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2015-09/documents/lapazagreement.pdf|title=La Paz Agreement|website=Epa.gov|access-date=April 9, 2018}}</ref> the official "border area" extends {{convert|100.|km|mi|abbr=on}} "on either side of the inland and maritime boundaries" from the Gulf of Mexico west into the Pacific Ocean. There is also a [[#100-mile border zone|100-mile border zone]].
===Secure Border Initiative===
{{One source section|date=June 2018}}
[[File:Defense.gov photo essay 060719-A-3715G-077.jpg|thumb|A U.S. [[Army National Guard]] member working with the U.S. Border Patrol in support of [[Operation Jump Start]], Arizona, July 2006]] A National Border Patrol Strategic Plan was first developed in 1994; it was then updated in 2004 and 2012. In 2004, the updated strategy focused on command structures, intelligence and surveillance, enforcement and deployment of U.S. Border Patrol agents to better respond to threats at the border. The strategic planning led to broader policy development for the DHS which led to the [[Secure Border Initiative]] (SBI) in 2005 to secure U.S. borders and reduce illegal migration. The main components of SBI dealt with staffing concerns, removal capacity, surveillance and tactical infrastructure and interior enforcement.<ref name="Seghetti">{{cite journal|last1=Seghetti|first1=Lisa|title=Border Security: Immigration Enforcement Between Ports of Entry|journal=Congressional Research Service|date=December 31, 2014|url=https://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/homesec/R42138.pdf}}</ref> The aim of this initiative is to overcome the limitations of physical barriers through the use of surveillance technologies known as "SBInet."<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |date=April 15, 2010 |title=The Rise and Fall of the Secure Border Initiative's High-Tech Solution to Unauthorized Immigration |url=https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/research/rise-and-fall-secure-border-initiative%E2%80%99s-high-tech-solution-unauthorized-immigration |access-date=October 26, 2022 |website=American Immigration Council |language=en}}</ref> The SBInet technology has not worked as well as potentially intended, facing a number of technical issues that have limited its effectiveness.<ref name=":3" /> Part of the initiative also focused on increasing detention and removal capacity, with an objective to add an additional 2,000 beds to detentional facilities.<ref name=":4">{{Cite web |title=Fact Sheet:Secure Border Initiative |url=https://www.hsdl.org/?view&did=440470 |access-date=October 26, 2022 |website=Homeland Security Digital Library |language=en-US}}</ref> With expansion of detention and removal capabilities this was also the objective to end the "catch and release" process that had been occurring previously.<ref name=":4" /> An additional component was "high consequence enforcement", which was not the subject of a formal public policy document. There was the allowance, historically, for voluntary returns of individuals apprehended at the border by Border Patrol agents. These voluntary returns, after the SBI of 2005, were limited to three "high consequence outcomes".<ref name="Seghetti" />
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===100-mile border zone===
{{more citations needed section|date=March 2015}}▼
{{main|Border search exception}}
▲{{more citations needed section|date=March 2015}}
[[File:USMC-10343.jpg|thumb|Members of the [[North Carolina Army National Guard]] monitoring the U.S.–Mexico border in southwest Arizona]]
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==Environment==
{{More|Environmental issues along the Mexico–United States border}}
The Agreement on Cooperation for the Protection and Improvement of the Environment in the Border Area, known as the ''La Paz Agreement'', was signed into law on August 14, 1983, and became enforceable on February 16, 1984.<ref>{{cite web|url = http://www.epa.gov/Border2012/docs/LaPazAgreement.pdf|title = Agreement on Cooperation for the Protection and Improvement of the Environment in the Border Area|year=1983 |access-date = December 2, 2014|publisher = US Environmental Protection Agency}}</ref> This agreement to protect the environment is the political foundation between the U.S. and Mexico for 4 subsequent programs. Each program has addressed environmental destruction in the border region resulting from the rise of the [[maquiladora]] industries, those who migrated to northern Mexico to work in the industries, the lack of infrastructure to accommodate the people, Mexico's lax regulations concerning all these factors, the resulting spillover into the U.S., and the U.S.'s own environmentally destructive tendencies. The programs were: IBEP (1992), Border XXI (1996), Border 2012 (2003) and Border 2020 (2012).<ref>{{cite web|last=Smith|first=Colin|title=1 U.S. – Mexico Cooperation for the Health of the Environment in the Border Region: A Policy History Analysis|url=https://www.academia.edu/2640698|archive-url=https://archive.today/20131113160840/http://www.academia.edu/2640698/U.S._-_Mexico_Cooperation_for_the_Health_of_the_Environment_in_the_Border_Region_A_Policy_History_Analysis|url-status=dead|archive-date=November 13, 2013}}</ref>
{{one source|section | date = June 2018
}}
[[File:Mexico-US border at Tijuana.jpg|thumb|right
In 2006, during the presidency of George W. Bush, Congress approved Secure Fence Act which allowed the Department of Homeland Security to erect a border fence along the U.S.–Mexico border. Congress also approved a different law called the REAL ID Act which gave the Department of Homeland Security the approval to build the wall without taking into consideration the environmental and legal issues related to the wall. The U.S. Congress insisted that the act was passed for the sake of national security of the U.S.<ref name="Cohn2007">{{cite journal|last1=Cohn|first1=Jeffrey P.|title=The Environmental Impacts of a Border Fence|journal=BioScience|volume=57|issue=1|year=2007|pages=96|issn=1525-3244|doi=10.1641/B570116|jstor=10.1641/b570116|s2cid=84341799|doi-access=free}}</ref>
According to a delegation of Arizona park and refuge managers, wildlife biologists, and conservationists who studied the U.S. and Mexico border concluded that building a wall along the Mexico border would also have negative impacts on the natural environment in the region. They argued that the border wall would negatively affect the wildlife in the Sonoran Desert including plants and animals. Naturally, animals do not tend to stay in one place and instead, they expedite to various places for water, plants, and other means in order to survive. The wall would restrict animals to a specific territory and would reduce their chances of survival. According to Brian Segee, a staff attorney with Wildlife Activists says that except high flying birds, animals would not be able to move to other places because of the wall along the border. For instance, participants in this study argued that some species such as [[Peccary|javelinas]], [[ocelot]]s, and [[Sonoran pronghorn]] would not be able to freely move along the border areas. It would also restrict the movement of jaguars from Sierra Madre occidental forests to the southwestern parts of the U.S. According to Brian Nowicki, a conservation biologist at the [[Center for Biological Diversity]], there are 30 animal species living in the Arizona and Sonora that face danger.<ref name="Cohn2007" /> In 2021, an endangered [[Mexican gray wolf]] was stopped from crossing from New Mexico into Mexico by a section of border wall.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/mexican-gray-wolf-migration-stopped-by-border-wall|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220121231517/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/mexican-gray-wolf-migration-stopped-by-border-wall|url-status=dead|archive-date=January 21, 2022|title = An endangered wolf went in search of a mate. The border wall blocked him|website = [[National Geographic Society]]|date = January 21, 2022}}</ref>
==Drug trafficking==
{{Seealso|Illegal drug trade in Latin America|Illegal drug trade in the United States|Crime in Mexico|Mexican drug war|Opioid epidemic in the United States}}
Mexico is estimated to be the world's third largest producer of [[opium]] with poppy cultivation. It also is a major supplier of [[heroin]] and the largest foreign supplier of [[marijuana]], [[cocaine]] and [[methamphetamine]] to the U.S. market.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/mexico/|title=The World Factbook — Central Intelligence Agency|website=www.cia.gov|language=en|access-date=2018-01-27}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.dea.gov/divisions/hq/2016/hq120616.shtml|title=DEA.gov / Headquarters News Releases, 12/06/16|website=www.dea.gov|language=en-US|access-date=2018-01-27}}</ref> According to the [[Drug Enforcement Administration|DEA]], about 93% of the [[Cocaine in the United States|cocaine]] in the United States came from [[Colombia]] and was smuggled across the border between Mexico and the United States. In 2017, the [[Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs|INL]] estimated that "between 90 and 94 percent of all heroin consumed in the United States comes from Mexico."<ref>{{cite news |title=Fact-checking Trump on drug traffic from Mexico |url=https://edition.cnn.com/2019/06/01/politics/trump-mexico-drugs-90-percent-tariff-fact-check/index.html |work=CNN |date=June 1, 2019}}</ref> These drugs are supplied by [[drug trafficking organizations]]. The U.S. government estimates that Mexican drug cartels gain tens of billions of dollars each year from drug sales in the U.S. alone.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/mexicos-drug-war|title=Mexico's Drug War|work=Council on Foreign Relations|access-date=2018-01-27|language=en}}</ref>
Border towns on the Mexico–United States border have been negatively affected by the [[Opioid epidemic in the United States|opioid crisis]] in the United States. According to César González Vaca, head of the Forensic Doctor's Service in [[Baja California]], "It seems the closer we are to the border, the more consumption of this drug we see."<ref name="bbc-07-02-2024">{{cite news |title='People will keep dying': Fentanyl crisis grips Mexico's border cities |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-68101263 |work=BBC News |date=7 February 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title='People will keep dying': Fentanyl crisis grips Mexico's border cities |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-68101263 |work=BBC News |date=7 February 2024}}</ref> In 2021, around 80,411 people died from [[opioid overdose]]s in the United States.<ref>{{cite news |title=Opioid Deaths Could Hit 165,000 Annually Without Intervention, Biden Official Warns |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/mollybohannon/2023/06/07/opioid-deaths-could-hit-165000-annually-without-intervention-biden-official-warns/ |work=Forbes |date=June 7, 2023}}</ref> Many of the deaths are from an extremely potent opioid, [[fentanyl]], which is trafficked from Mexico.<ref name="bbc-07-02-2024"/><ref>{{cite news|last1=Miroff|first1=Nick|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/at-the-new-york-division-of-fentanyl-inc-a-banner-year/2017/11/13/c3cce108-be83-11e7-af84-d3e2ee4b2af1_story.html|title=Mexican traffickers making New York a hub for lucrative — and deadly — fentanyl|date=November 13, 2017|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|name-list-style=vanc}}</ref> The drug is usually manufactured in [[China]], then shipped to Mexico, where it is processed and packaged, which is then smuggled into the United States by Mexican [[drug cartel]]s.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Linthicum |first=Kate |date=2020-04-24 |title=Coronavirus chokes the drug trade — from Wuhan, through Mexico and onto U.S. streets |url=https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2020-04-24/wuhan-china-coronavirus-fentanyl-global-drug-trade |website=[[Los Angeles Times]] |language=en-US}}</ref> In 2023, the Biden administration announced a crackdown on members of the [[Sinaloa Cartel]] smuggling fentanyl into the United States.<ref>{{cite news |title=Mexican cartel targeted by Biden administration in multiple fentanyl indictments |url=https://coloradonewsline.com/briefs/mexican-cartel-biden-fentanyl-indictments/ |work=Colorado Newsline |date=April 14, 2023}}</ref>
==Transborder students==
{{more citations needed|date=May 2019}}
[[File:Nogales-Grand Avenue Port of Entry.jpg|thumb|left
Many schools near the border in America have students that live on the Mexican side of the border. These students are "transborder students", as they live in Mexico but are enrolled in the U.S. education system. There are thousands of elementary through high school students that cross the Mexican-American border. They are known to wake up in the early hours of the morning to make their way to the border, where they wait in long lines to cross into the U.S. After crossing the border, the students find a ride to school. Many students come to America for the opportunity, because it has a more developed and organized educational system. Students who go to school in America have a better chance of reaching higher education in the U.S. In many parts of Mexico, compulsory education ends at age sixteen. Many of the transborder students are natural-born U.S. citizens. Students that were born in America have the right to American education, even if they do not live in the U.S. In places like the San Diego and Tijuana border, it is much cheaper to live in Mexico. San Diego has a high cost of living and one of the highest student homeless rates in the country, so many families move to Tijuana because it is more affordable to raise a family.
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