Essay Sample on Violence and Terror on Southwest Border

Introduction

The Southwest border of the US is famous for incidents of violence and terror. Consequently, there has been a lot of focus on the fight against violence and terrorist activities taking place at the border. While many immigrants cross the border with the intent of seeking better opportunities available in the US, Longley (2017) pointed out that some of them have other reasons. Some of the reasons include perpetuating violence and terrorist activities. In the past, it has been assumed that the majority of the immigrants are of the Mexican origin. However, a recent report showed that there are immigrants other than Mexicans. Some of the non-Mexican immigrants crossing the South-west border were found to be from countries known for producing, training, and harboring Islamic terrorists.

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The fight against violence and terrorism at the border has resulted in the apprehension of illegal immigrants with terrorist ties. Although it is known that some of the non-Mexican immigrants with a potential for causing violence and terrorism have crossed the border, there has been a challenge getting them out of the country. Mexico does not accept to receive them, and the only solution has been to deport them to their countries of origin. Several members of the Islamist terrorist organizations have been apprehended by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection while they try to cross the Southwest border. Some of the illegal immigrants arrested belonged to Islamic terrorist organization groups such as ISIS, al-Shabaab, Taliban, Hezbollah, and so forth (Gillin, 2016).

In addition to terrorism, it has been found that violence at the order is also linked to drug-trafficking. Often, violence occurs when drug-traffickers fight for control of the smuggling routes of the drugs to the US territory (Finklea, 2013). The intensity of the violence has generated a lot of concern among the US security agencies. According to Finklea (2013), the most reported type of violence is murder. Statistics show that 45,000-55,000 people may have been murdered between 2006 and 2012. Among many other types of violence include assaults, home invasions, and kidnappings. The fight against violence at the border has been enhanced to prevent a possible spillover to the US territory. Some of the Federal Border Security efforts include the Secure Border Initiative, Merida Initiative, Border Enforcement Security Task Forces, National Guard assistance on the border, and the passage of the DHS Accountability Act of 2012.

References

Finklea, K.M. (2013, February 28). Southwest border violence: issues and identifying and measuring spillover violence. Congressional Research Service. Retrieved from http://trac.syr.edu/immigration/library/P7170.pdf

Gillin, J. (2016, April 4). Terrorists from groups besides ISIS crossing U.S.-Mexico border, U.S. Rep. Ron DeSantis says. Politifact. Retrieved from www.politifact.com/florida/statements/2016/apr/04/ron-desantis/terrorists-groups-besides-isis-crossing-us-mexico-/

Longley, R. (2017). Terrorists: The 'Other' Illegal Immigrants. Retrieved from www.thoughtco.com/terrorists-the-other-illegal-immigrants-3321334