Discussion on Border Security

White Paper- Border Security
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White Paper- Border Security
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) plays a critical role in enhancing the safety and security of United States’ borders while facilitating an orderly, safe, and humane system of immigration. Since Covid-19 is a major threat to the wellbeing of Americans, DHS must respond to the threat and any other hazard. A key strategy to manage the pandemic is to secure and manage the borders through administering immigration laws. Border and immigration policies are fundamental in addressing the issue of security since the country shares land borders with Canada and Mexico. Since the United States has numerous opportunities, most people might be willing to immigrate. However, the government needs to restrict border movement as one of the ways to contain the spread of coronavirus.
The United States has focused on enhancing border security through hiring border patrol agents, establishing electronic surveillance systems, and building fences to deter unauthorized individuals' entry into the country. However, such a security strategy is likely to misalign with the economic goals that facilitate the effective flow of goods through the border crossings. Therefore, closed borders would not be suitable in the United States since they would majorly hinder economic growth (Finley & Esposito, 2020). Rather than closed borders, the government should enhance economic integration with neighboring countries. However, government agencies would have to conduct screening and other mechanisms to curb coronavirus spread.
President Donald Trump, the former president of the United States, enacted closed borders, which forced asylum seekers to stay out of the country during the processing of their cases (Finley & Esposito, 2020). However, President Biden has reversed the policies through advocacy of open borders that facilitate the movement of asylum seekers. Although the borders are only partially open due to the covid-19 pandemic, asylum seekers are likely to receive the assistance they need, such as job training, enrolment to English class, and other forms of assistance that the government offers. On the contrary, closed borders would influence the United States to subject families and children to persecution and numerous threats. Moreover, in most instances, asylum seekers seek refuge in the United States due to environmental degradation, poverty, and conflicts. Therefore, the government would subject the asylum seekers to numerous risks by denying them a chance to cross the borders to the United States.
Open borders denote the government policies to authorize the entry of immigrants to the United States with or without restrictions. In such a case, the government would facilitate economic expansion without subjecting asylum seekers to affliction. Since President Biden has embraced the open borders policy, it would only be important to implement strategies to prevent the spread of coronavirus pandemics. On the contrary, closed borders mark state sovereignty’s waning with spatial strategies, such as checkpoints, sterile areas, blockades, and other security zones (Schacher, 2020). In most instances, immigrants move to t...