People's Experiences of Migration Across the Mexico-U.S. Border
In what ways do the concepts of territory and flow help us understand people’s experiences of migration across the Mexico-US border?
Separating Mexico and the United States is a 2,000 mile barrier, sometimes heavily guarded, sometimes a simple fence and for the most part the barrier is the river Rio Grande. This barrier divides two hugely different countries, a divide between the rich America and the vastly poorer Mexico. It is the visible sign of a defined territory, a constant reminder that the two countries are different in more ways than one. The border is used to regulate and control the flow of people and manufactured goods both in and out of each of the countries; it is also a highly dangerous place and is subject to both legal and illegal crossings. In this essay I aim to outline the concepts of the territory and flow over the above border and draw on people’s experiences of migration.
When looking at the Mexico-US border its easy to spot the vast inequalities between the two countries, not only are the inequalities apparent with the peoples differing living conditions, they reach much further across the border into political inequalities and basic human rights. Borders exist all over the world between countries, defining territory, yet this border has the highest rate of people and goods flowing through, in the world. There are at least forty three crossing points along the border, all are highly regulated by US be that in form of ‘American Border Patrols’ that are run by American citizens that don’t want the expanding Mexican culture expanding within the US or the military US border patrol which control who or what enters and leaves America at set points and patrol vast areas that are known to be use by illegal crossers of the border.
An interesting point is made by Glenn Spencer from the ‘American Border Patrol’ he refers to a quote by President Reagan ‘a nation without a border is not a nation’. He and others like him are of the
Separating Mexico and the United States is a 2,000 mile barrier, sometimes heavily guarded, sometimes a simple fence and for the most part the barrier is the river Rio Grande. This barrier divides two hugely different countries, a divide between the rich America and the vastly poorer Mexico. It is the visible sign of a defined territory, a constant reminder that the two countries are different in more ways than one. The border is used to regulate and control the flow of people and manufactured goods both in and out of each of the countries; it is also a highly dangerous place and is subject to both legal and illegal crossings. In this essay I aim to outline the concepts of the territory and flow over the above border and draw on people’s experiences of migration.
When looking at the Mexico-US border its easy to spot the vast inequalities between the two countries, not only are the inequalities apparent with the peoples differing living conditions, they reach much further across the border into political inequalities and basic human rights. Borders exist all over the world between countries, defining territory, yet this border has the highest rate of people and goods flowing through, in the world. There are at least forty three crossing points along the border, all are highly regulated by US be that in form of ‘American Border Patrols’ that are run by American citizens that don’t want the expanding Mexican culture expanding within the US or the military US border patrol which control who or what enters and leaves America at set points and patrol vast areas that are known to be use by illegal crossers of the border.
An interesting point is made by Glenn Spencer from the ‘American Border Patrol’ he refers to a quote by President Reagan ‘a nation without a border is not a nation’. He and others like him are of the