There has been a lot of talk among the 2016 presidential candidates about what immigration policies they would implement if chosen for office, particularly with respect to The Great Wall of America.
Eyes worldwide are watching Europe and the Middle East as refugees encounter barbed wire fences with armed guards who represent the interests of a few xenophobic leaders.
Israelis and Palestinians are killed daily on the borders that separate one ethnic neighborhood, or state, from another, both the old 40-mile-long Gaza Strip wall and the Israeli West Bank Barrier, which will be about 430 miles long at its completion.
Border fences exist to control and regulate the mobility of poor people.
Death rates of immigrants trying to cross the U.S.-Mexico border have increased each year despite heightened security measures, including higher numbers of border patrol guards, according to a report by Mexico’s National Commission on Human Rights and the American Civil Liberties Union.
So far this year, 117 bodies have been recovered even though fewer immigrants have set out to cross the border, according to the Los Angeles Times. Last year, authorities counted 108 bodies during the same period of time.
Construction of the Mexico-United States barrier is currently on hold at about 600 miles long, mitigated by “virtual barriers” characterized by motion detectors and cameras and naturally inhospitable dessert or mountainous areas.
If finished, it would be almost 2,000 miles long and the largest in the world.
President Barrack Obama has put the project on hold for now, but a change in the White House could see construction of the wall resume.
According to United States law, U.S. Customs and Border Protection authorities have extra-Constitutional rights within 100 miles of any border on land or sea, allowing them to search and arrest people without a warrant.
Besides these violations, “Border Patrol agents routinely ignore or misunderstand the limits of their legal authority in the course of individual stops, resulting in violations of the constitutional rights of innocent people,” according to the CNDH and ACLU report.
Two-thirds of the United States population lives within this 100-mile zone.
Furthermore, CPB, the nation’s largest law enforcement agency, continues to have problems with corruption and abuse of immigrants, according to a report from the Department of Homeland Security.
CPB officials have said recently that agents will not be required to wear cameras on their persons, despite recommendation reports to the contrary.
After all, it’s only poor people who have anything to worry about, as only desperation could motivate such a risky journey across the border.
When is the last time an American died trying to cross to Mexico illegally?
There are no records of illegal American immigrants, though Americans make up the largest alien population in Mexico at about 1 million people, mostly in vacation and retirement communities like Cabo San Lucas and Lake Chapala.
There, these wealthy retirees have no need to worry about deportation or visa denials, since if they are caught without legal papers, they need only pay a fine.