The Similarities and Differences Between External Borders of European Union

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The United States and European Union share a common goal of securing the border. The establishment of the European Border and Coast Guard in 2016 played a vital role since it led to nearly 730,000 sea rescues. Like the United States, border security remains a challenge in the European Union and often exposes the area to terror threats. In most cases, the migration of people from one nation to the other jeopardizes the quality of the hosting state. However, migration issues in the European Union experience challenges because of the lack of a political accord. For example, in June 2018, Italy declined and hindered the entry of persons rescued from non-governmental, commercial, and military ships into their country. Other nations began preventing hundreds of people from landing following Italy’s actions until there was an agreement. The debate on immigration continues to receive mixed reactions from politicians in the United States since lawmakers from both nations aim to amend the laws but cannot agree.
The main aim of creating the external borders of New Europe, specifically regarding the European Union and the Schengen Area, was to facilitate the free flow of people and goods from the countries that signed onto the European Union and Schengen Agreement. Conversely, the European Union’s goal differs from the United States border policy because the latter nation emphasizes physical borders while European countries opt for non-territorial boundaries (Bledsoe-Gardner, 2017). Although New Europe promotes the free movement of people, recent events and refugee crises forced European countries to look at internal border control and safety within the European Union. For that reason, European countries have had to reevaluate their border security. In 2015, there was an increased arrival of immigrants from the Middle East emanating from conflicts and wars, causing several responses from the European Union, including the building of hundreds of kilometers of border fencing on both internal and external borders of the European Union (Bremberg, 2014). Although the United States and Europe use different approaches to control border and security, research illustrates they share some commonalities that threaten their sovereignty as a nation. While the United States continues to battle illegal immigration and terrorism threats at the United States-Mexico Border, the same border security concerns are present along the European Union’s southern borders with the Middle East (Lehtonen & Aalto, 2017).
In 1995, the European Union established the Schengen Agreements explaining the steps to pr...