Ineffective U.S. immigration policies and deterrence mechanisms at the U.S.-Mexico border : the story of Mexico and the Northern Triangle

Abstract

Starting approximately in the 1960s, large waves of migration from Mexico and the Northern Triangle countries - Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala - has resulted in a 'crisis' at the US Mexico border, where US border enforcement agents are faced with large waves of illegal migration. In response, the United States has established over the years a series of policies and deterrence mechanisms that have included human right violations, to stop and reduce illegal migration. The goal of this paper was to understand the effect of these policies and deterrence strategies on migration from Mexico and the Northern Triangle countries, to gauge their effectiveness or lack thereof. The results demonstrated that current US policies and deterrence strategies are ineffective in achieving their stated objective to reduce/stop large waves of migration from Mexico and the Northern Triangle since they actually perpetuate the migration they seek to stop. What we find is that current policies and deterrence strategies, combined with the push factors, including politics and corruption, poverty, and violence from gang and drug cartels, create a cycle of debt migration, where migrants are in such a vulnerable position, that they have no other choice but to try and migrate again to the United States. As a result, this paper suggests that the United States reevaluate its migration policies, to have a more welcoming approach, to increase legal pathways to migration, and to address the root causes in Mexico and the Northern Triangle in cooperation with those countries. Without a change in policies, the problem at the US-Mexico border will persist.