Holly Ryan
The Risk of Crossing
More than one illegal immigrant dies each day in attempt to cross the dangerous borders of Mexico to the United States. These migrants died from suffocation in airless trucks, vehicle crashes, downing, and most commonly heatstroke, and dehydration. Crossing the border has become increasingly difficult since 1994, when the Border Patrol launched a policy that would forever change the lives of illegal immigrants. This policy was known as Operation Gatekeeper, which was an effort to put a halt to immigration in the San Diego area, but took a turn for the worst when it expanded to both Arizona and Texas. The death rate of illegal immigrants began to rise rapidly since this operation began, leading up to 2,000 deaths of migrants. The Border Patrol is to blame for these mounting deaths because of Operation Gatekeeper, by enhancing their security, driving migrant traffic to the most severe areas, and in the end even increasing immigration.
The number of Border Patrol agents, surveillance equipment, and physical barriers in the San Diego sector dramatically increased after the launch of Operation Gatekeeper. The rank of Border Patrol agents was nearly doubled nationwide, rising up to 8,200 agents. With an increased budget of 578 million dollars from the United States government, the Border Patrol was granted an alarming amount of power. Taking advantage of this power, these agents would arrest or even kill anyone who tried to illegally cross the border, most of which were just immigrants searching for a better life. From the time of October 2008 to March 2009, 265,000 people were arrested after attempting to cross the border with no legal documents. These people trying to find freedom and success in the USA were arrested and caught by the overwhelming amount of border patrol agents, driving future immigrants to cross in unsafe areas.
Major cities abundant in migrant traffic, such as San Diego and El Paso, were the main targets of Operation Gatekeeper. Due to this policy, militarization and security were enhanced in these cities, forcing immigrants from the popular suburban migration routes to severe terrain. The only route to entering California that remained was either through the Imperial Desert, or over mountains north of Tecate. These regions were both harsh and desolated areas, making it extremely dangerous for anyone to trek through. Days of traveling in the extreme climates of these areas led to the rising of deaths, being that they had to travel light with few assets, such as water. Whether it was dehydration or suffocation, these immigrants had a higher risk of death when trying to cross over into America. This was all because the Border Patrol focused on strengthening the border in big cities, where trekking conditions were less cruel.
Operation Gatekeeper’s intensions ended up going in the exact opposite direction. The result of this strategy was actually an increase of illegal immigration due the problem of “border buildup,” says a study by the Public Policy Institute of California. After the border’s security was strengthened, it made it take even more time to cross the border, whether or not you had a passport. This caused for a border buildup, which meant that a great amount of people would build up at the border when trying to pass, leading to an increased amount of illegal immigrants crossing over. Operation Gatekeeper actually ended up doing very little to diminishing illegal immigration. In the end this policy that the Border Patrol launched was a failure and took the lives of many.
Operation Gatekeeper was a policy that ended up creating more problems than solutions. Through the attempts of strengthening all the major cities’ borders, the cost of this operation got up to be over two billion dollars a year, and for what? The deaths of illegal immigrants rose dramatically and there are even more attempting to cross the border now. Overall the Border Patrol was to blame for these deaths because of this policy.
