Adjusting to Terrorism in the United States
After the terrorist attack of 9-11, the United States made several changes to policies concerning visitors into the United States. More attention is required at the borders, airports, mail system, and intranet to protect citizens of the United States against terrorism. In this paper, we will discuss a proposal to make the criminal justice agencies in the United States better prepared for terrorist attacks. Border Patrol is part of the criminal justice agency and responsible for protecting the borders of the United States against illegal immigrants from entering the U. S. without proper authorization.
I would like to propose the United States completely fencing in our country instead of just fencing a third as we do presently. This will enable our agents to enforce the laws more effectively across the United States. Many borders are open along the Vermont and Canadian. People are able to cross the border without detection. People know there is nothing to stop them from traveling route 2 and disappearing (Peak 2010). This issue needs attention so all borders need patrolled equally to ensure the safety of the United States. The world’s longest undefended border is between Canada and the United States.
This runs along the 49th parallel of the west coast to Lake Superior and following natural boundaries for the remainder (International Boundary Commission 2011). Expense is a negative consequence to this proposal however, the money the United States saves in health care, education, and loss of employment caused by illegal immigrants will pay for the expansion of the border. Safety is the positive to the border issue, we have too many illegal people crossing into the United States and more force needs to take place in order to change the current situation.
With more border protection, the United States can control drug traffic, human trafficking, and illegal aliens residing in the United States. Each year, according to the U. S. Customs, 60 million people come to the United States aboard 675,000 commercial and private flights. Six million arrive by sea and 370 million by land and 116 million vehicles cross the land borders with Canada and Mexico. It is estimated around 90,000 merchant and passenger ships enter U. S. ports. Each ship can carry more than 9 million shipping containers and 400 million tons of cargo.
This voluminous trade, drug traffickers conceal cocaine, heroin, marijuana, MDMA, and methamphetamine shipments for distribution in U. S. neighborhoods (U. S. Drug Enforcement Agency 2004). The budget for this expansion will include more border patrol officers, weapons, artillery, material, and funding from the government. Each border needs supervisors to supervise the operation of each station. Each officer needs to go through a training period of 6 weeks before assigned to a duty station.
The estimated cost for this project is 1. 5 billion dollars. In conclusion, our borders are unprotected around the United States and serious measure need taken to control the illegal aliens entering on a daily basis. Without proper patrol, the United States is at risk of all types of illegal operations coming in and going out of our country through ships, planes, and trains. This proposal will decrease the amount of illegal persons and merchandise transported across what is now unprotected by guards.
References
International Boundary Commission Canadian Info Retrieved from http://www.craigmarlatt.com/canada/canada;the_world/canada;us_border.html on January 31, 2011 Peak, K, 2010 Justice Administration: Police, Courts, and Corrections Management, Sixth Edition Published by Prentice Hall. By Pearson Education, Inc U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency Drug Trafficking in the United States 2004 Retrieved from http://www.policyalmanac.org/crime/archive/drug_trafficking.shtml on January 31, 2011
