Prevention Through Deterrence

Prevention Through Deterrence is a set of policies instituted by the United States with the intent to deter the illegal crossing of its southern border with Mexico.[1] First introduced in a document entitled "Border Patrol Strategic Plan of 1994 and Beyond" this policy has since been used to police high traffic areas of the Mexico–United States border.[1]

Since its institution an estimated 10,000 migrants passing through Mexico have died in an attempt to cross through the Sonoran Desert into the United States.[2] Mexico's Secretariat of Foreign Affairs places the number of deaths at roughly 450 per year (including migrant deaths on both the US and Mexican territory).[2]

History

The United States implemented "Prevention through Deterrence" in the 1990s when immigrants crossing the Rio Grande from Reynosa, Mexico attracted the media's attention pressuring immigration officials and politicians to create a new enforcement policy.[3] The idea is to redirect the routes of the migrants into the Sonoran Desert to discourage migrants from crossing.[3] The United States Government relies on the environment of the Sonoran Desert to deter these migrants without much help from the border enforcement agency.[3]

Operation Blockade

Operation Blockade occurred from September 19, 1993 through October 2, 1993.[4] Border Patrol agents were deployed along the 20 mile segment of the border "on an around-the clock basis and with repairs to the border fence in downtown El Paso area,"[4] Although the blockade ended on October 2, 1993, on September 24, 1993 Border Patrol announces that the operation "will continue indefinitely."[4] The impact of the operation was seen immediately, because the usual level of attempted entry and arrest declined.[4] The intention was to shift the traffic away from the city and “put [migrants] out in areas where they’re on [Border Patrol’s] turf.”[5] This approach soon evolved into the policy of Prevention through Deterrence.[5]

Chinese Exclusions Act of 1888

The Chinese Exclusions Act of 1888 was a federal statute that prohibited Chinese laborers from entering and re-entering the United States.[6] When Chinese laborers were denied entrance they would enter the United States illegally the southern border with Mexico.[7]

According to anthropologist Jason De León, it was during the implementation of the Act that we see an early application of prevention through deterrence by the immigration agents.[5] De León points out that in order to deter more immigrants from crossing, patrol officers only apprehend immigrants on established routes where they had access to resources, this began to push immigrants into more rural areas with less resources.[5] Scholars state, “from their earliest work [by] enforcing the Chinese Exclusion Acts [enacted in 1882], immigration authorities [have] discovered that the desert and mountain wilderness [can] be made effective allies in the fight against undocumented entry."[5]

Debates

Measurement

The effect of prevention through deterrence is measured in different ways. The U.S. government can use the number of immigrant apprehensions to evaluate prevention through deterrence[1] but, this does not measure how many migrants allude border patrol or how many how many migrants are dying at the southern border.[5] Alternatively a 1997 report by the Government Accountability Office, did use the immigrant death toll to measure the effect of prevention through deterrence.[5] The Department of Homeland Security also publishes the number of migrant deaths; however, according to De León, it is the lowest estimate.[5]

Praise

The goals of the Strategic Plan of 1994 as stated by border patrol, was not only to slow the number of migrants crossing the southern border, but to promote confidence in the United States' ability to protect that border.[1] By apprehending more undocumented immigrants using prevention through deterrence, border patrol also wanted to "protect the immigration heritage" that serves as the foundation of our country today.[1] De León points out that by using terms like "tactical advantage" and "deterring," government documents format prevention through deterrence as a humane but powerful strategy.[5]

Criticism

According to De León, there is a "war on non-citizens" at the U.S.-Mexican border and the primary weapon used by the U.S. is prevention through deterrence, which shifts the blame of migrant deaths from the government to the environment.[5]

Necroviolence, a term coined by De León, is the intentionally "offensive, sacrilegious, or inhumane" treatment of a deceased individual as perceived by the actor and/or the culture of the victim.[5] De León applies necroviolence to prevention through deterrence through the effect the environment has on diseased individuals.[5] De León also believes that the fear of necroviolence not only serves as a way to prevent more immigrants from crossing the border, but by condemning individuals to a clandestine death they, and the people who knew them, are stripped of spiritual and emotional closure.[5]

Shaping history

According to De León, the U.S. government does not acknowledge the part it plays in the increase of migrant deaths at the southern border; however, over the past 20 years the United States government has been collecting materials left behind by undocumented immigrants.[5]  Therefore, artifacts are no longer available for scholars like De León to study.[5]  As Paul Farmer pointed out, this is a technique used by authoritative structures to establish a particular historical account of an event.[5]

Locations

Using the environment

U.S. border patrol uses the environment to execute the prevention through deterrence strategy.[1] For example, features of the terrain such as; bodies of water, mountains, valleys, extreme temperatures etc., are "natural barriers," for individuals crossing the border.[1] To use the uninhabited environment in prevention through deterrence, border patrol increased surveillance in cities along the southern border, which pushed migrant entry points into rural areas.[1]

The Americas
Sonoran Desert

The idea of Prevention Through Deterrence stemmed at the border between the United States and Mexico. This area is referred to as the Sonoran Desert located in Arizona which is known as an inhospitable area. Many determined migrants also chose to cross the Río Bravo which separates northeast Mexico from Texas because this area is known to have less border security.[8] Migrants from Central America have used the means of the Rio Grande in order to cross the border as well.[9]

Over 22 years (from 1990-2012), 2,238 migrant bodies were found in Prima County, Arizona, and 1,813 bodies, over half of those recovered, died from exposure.[5] However, these statistics only include the migrants bodies that were recovered and only represent a small portion of the border.[5]

Europe
Mediterranean Sea

In May 2019 the European Union was accused of knowingly sending several thousand migrants to cross the Mediterranean Sea from Libya.[10] The Mediterranean has been used as means of Prevention Through Deterrence when the EU made the decision to decrease its search and rescue operations in 2014.[10]

Along the border of Greece and Turkey 25,000 antitank and antipersonnel mines were left dormant after the 1974 Cyprus dispute. Despite the ratification of the Ottawa Convention in 1977 banning antipersonnel mines the complete removal has yet to be completed.[11] Far right Greek politicians have called for the extension of these mines further along the border as an anti-immigration deterrent.[11]

References
  1. E-mail, Via (1994-07-01). "Border Patrol Strategic Plan 1994 and Beyond: National Strategy". Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  2. Whitaker, Julie (2009). "Mexican Deaths in the Arizona Desert: The Culpability of Migrants, Humanitarian Workers, Governments, and Businesses". Journal of Business Ethics. 88: 365–376. doi:10.1007/s10551-009-0283-x. ISSN 0167-4544. JSTOR 27749710.
  3. León, Jason De; García, Eduardo “Lalo”; Feb 2016, The Undocumented Migration Project / 16 (2016-02-16). "A View From the Train Tracks". SAPIENS. Retrieved 2019-12-02.
  4. "Operation Blockade: Bullying Tactic or Border Control Model?". CIS.org. Retrieved 2019-12-05.
  5. León, Jason De (October 2015). The land of open graves : living and dying on the migrant trail. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-28275-9. OCLC 922765490.
  6. "Chinese Exclusion Act | Definition, History, & Facts". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2019-12-06.
  7. Ettinger, Patrick W. (2011). Imaginary lines : border enforcement and the origins of undocumented immigration, 1882-1930. University of Texas Press. ISBN 978-0-292-72578-2. OCLC 704526404.
  8. León, Jason De; García, Eduardo “Lalo”; Feb 2016, The Undocumented Migration Project / 16 (2016-02-16). "A View From the Train Tracks". SAPIENS. Retrieved 2019-12-06.
  9. Kanno-Youngs, Zolan (2019-06-08). "Death on the Rio Grande: A Look at a Perilous Migrant Route". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-12-06.
  10. Berry, Mike (December 2015). "Press Coverage of the Refugee and Migrant Crisis in the EU: A Content Analysis of Five European Countries" (PDF). UNCHR.
  11. "Greek Far Right Makes Gains, Demands Landmines on Borders". Voice of America. Retrieved 2019-12-06.
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