GOVT 2305 Federal Government

• An introduction and brief overview of the policy relationship.
• What are the major issues facing each country involved?
• What are the reasons for initiating changes to the policy?
• What are the options to be considered (discuss several)?
• What are the pros and cons of each potential reform (costs v. benefits)?
• Which is the best option moving forward (pick one)?

The foreign relations between United States of America and United Mexican States are termed as Mexico–United States relations. Land as well as maritime borders is shared by the two countries. The nations have concluded several bilateral treaties which include Gadsden Purchase and multilateral treaty like North American Free Trade Agreement. The long border which is shared by the nation provide that peace needs to be maintained for international trade and national security. Mexico is US’s third largest trading partner and US is Mexico’s largest trading partner. However Mexico is the largest source of immigration in US along with illegal trade in drugs and firearms, therefore differences are created between the governments of the two countries (Payan).

Mexico condemned the 9/11 terror attacks and provided significant relief to US during Hurricane Katrina. However in international affairs the country operates in a neutral manner as it opted out of controversial issues like war on terror and the Iraq war but supported military interventions by the US in Libya.

A treaty had been entered upon by the two countries known as Boundary treaty 1970 in order to resolve boundary issues such as the Chamizal dispute. In addition the North America free tree trade agreement has been signed between Mexico, Canada and United States for the purpose eliminating investment and trade barriers. Ever since Mexico and US have strengthened their economic ties (Menjívar, Cecilia and  Kanstroom).

As of 2016 50% of the illegal immigrants in the US have originated from Mexico where the number was even higher at 62% in 2009. Those who enter US from Mexico as illegal immigrants are termed as “coyotes”. A remittance of $18.1 billion had been received by Mexico from the individuals in US. A barrier has been built by the US on the border with Mexico for the purpose of addressing the issue of illegal immigrants.

Mexico is the biggest source of illegal drugs which enter into the US. Almost 90% of the Cocaine which is smuggled into the country arrived from Mexico. In an attempt to intimidate the US the Mexican drug mafia kidnapped, tortured and murdered Enrique Camarena who was agent of US Drug Enforcement Administration. However the Mexican governments have ever since enhanced their efforts towards combating the issues related to drug and illegal arms trafficking (Hollifield et al.).

The US is the biggest source of the illegal weapon supply in Mexico. These weapons majorly come from the US weapon festivals which do not have any regulations in relation to the buyers. Through the Guatemalan borders of central America most of the rocket launchers and grenades are smuggled into Mexico. The American civilian Market is one of the largest sources of illegal weapons in Mexico. The US government assists the Mexican government by providing training and technological equipments in order to address the issue of illegal weapons. One of such projects between the two countries was known as project gunrunner for tracings Mexican guns which manufactured in or illegally imported from US. In 2015, Official reports of the U.S. government and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and explosives (ATF) stated that the firearms of the drug mafia in Mexico have been updated and the source of most of such weapons is US (Mayda, Maria, and  Peri).

The above situation has created various issues for both the countries which have to be addressed with significant priority in order to prevent the issues from becoming a major concern for the countries. Currently more than 10 million immigrants who have no documentation reside in the US and the rate of illegal immigrates is increasing by 700000 every year. These immigrants come to the country for seeking better job opportunities and lifestyle. However the legal system as well as the environment of national security is threatened by such illegal immigration. There is a profound security problem when three out of hundred people in America are undocumented. Even though a direct security problem is not caused by such immigrants they actually distort the law, create cover for criminals and terrorists and distract resources of the nation. The major problem which such immigrates poses to the country in not only a threat to economy by majorly a threat to security of the nation. There is no nationwide process which may be used to separate the good from the bad. The state of US as a “nation of immigrants” is making crimes like migration and terrorism easier to commit. The rise of terrorism activities in the last decade provides a strong cause of taking immediate actions towards the above discussed issues (Cheryl  et al).

There are several principals which can be initiated for the purpose of addressing the issues related to immigration weapons and drugs in both the countries.

As most of the immigrants come for the purpose of looking for work in the US the identification of such workers can be done biometrically. The US-VISIT program is already using a nationwide system of biometric identification system for visitors. A "basic pilot employment verification program" is however in place and is governed by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) through which the effectiveness of using technology is encouraged against work arrangements which are undocumented.

There are certain advantages and disadvantages of this system which needs to be considered in order to ensure that it is feasible or not. The system may be expensive for the government to implement as introduction of new technology is a costly affair. An additional burden would also be imposed on the organizations where they are asked to monitor identification. However the benefits of such a system is likely to supersede its disadvantages as when workers would be identified that immigration would automatically become less as the immigrants would not have access to illegal job opportunities. Less immigration would also reduce the risk of terrorism and crime in US.

Incentives have to be given to the immigrants to register with guest worker programs so that the number of migrant workers and their identities can be indentified and recorded by the country. This may again add an additional burden would also be imposed on the organizations where they are asked to monitor identification but will solve the issue of immigration in the country (Aleinikoff, Alexander and  Klusmeyer).

Providing the provisions of efficient legal entry and not pardoning it officially may also be an option. With the knowledge that the immigrants would be able to return to US when needed they would take the initiative of going to their country of origin themselves, however a strict enforcement of law would be required to prevent any scope of reentry.

In relation to fight against the drug mafia US already provides significant financial assistance to the Mexican government. However the increase in the threat posed by the drug cartels to the country depicts that the mere funding is not being enough for the governments to solve the issue. The US government has to pay an active role alongside the Mexican government to enhance their ability to combat the drug mafia in the country through joint operations. The process may increase the operational cost of US but where the country is already making significant investment to tackle the problem this investment also can be made. In addition the joint operations would also enhance the relationship between the countries.

The drug mafia has only become stronger as they have access to arms and ammunition form the US. Currently the country does not have any policy to specifically address the issue in relation to illegal weapon trading. One of the options which can be implemented in the given situation include expansion of nationwide the state-level multiple-sale reporting requirement for assault weapons. The rule had already been implemented by the Obama government with respect to mandatory report in relation to the sales of two or more semi automatics. However the strategy was not followed up properly which resulted in a failure. The policy may not reduce the sale of weapons but will allow the governments to keep a track of where the weapons are going (Heyman et al.).

From the above discussed issues and strategies it is clear that immigration is the root cause of all other issues and such immigration if prevented may help to address issues such as drug and weapon trafficking between the countries. The option discussed above in relation to addressing the problem of immigration provides the setting out of proper identification system in the work place. Although the burden and cost of the employer may be increased it would provide significant help towards addressing the issue of illegal migrants in US (Doris et al.).

It can be derived from the above discussed analysis that the relationship between US and Mexico has been very formal and professional. Both the countries have an economic interest in each other and therefore it is important for them both to ensure good relationship between them. However the issues of immigration, drug trafficking and illegal weapons are posing a significant threat to the relationship between two countries. Addressing the issue of immigration would address all other issues as immigration is the root cause of the other issues like drug trafficking and weapon trade.

References

Aleinikoff, T. Alexander, and Douglas Klusmeyer, eds. From migrants to citizens: Membership in a changing world. Brookings Institution Press, 2013.

Cherpitel, Cheryl J., et al. "Age at Immigration and Substance Use and Problems Among Males and Females at the US–Mexico Border." Journal of studies on alcohol and drugs 78.6 (2017): 827-834.

Costa, Daniel, David Cooper, and Heidi Shierholz. "Facts about immigration and the US economy." Economic Policy Institute Fact Sheet-Immigration (2014).

Heyman, Joshia McC, Cecilia Menjívar, and Daniel Kanstroom. "“Illegality” and the US-Mexico Border." Constructing Immigrant “Illegality”: Critiques, Experiences, and Responses (2014): 111-135.

Hollifield, James, Philip Martin, and Pia Orrenius. Controlling immigration: A global perspective. Stanford University Press, 2014.

Mayda, Anna Maria, and Giovanni Peri. "The economic impact of US immigration policies in the Age of Trump." Economics and Policy in the Age of Trump (2017): 69.

Meissner, Doris M., et al. Immigration enforcement in the United States: The rise of a formidable machinery. Washington, DC: Migration Policy Institute, 2013.

Menjívar, Cecilia, and Dan Kanstroom, eds. Constructing Immigrant" illegality": Introduction:'immigrant illegality': constructions, critiques, resistance Cecilia Menjivar and Daniel Kanstroom; Part I. The Construction of'Illegality': 2. Immigration'reform'and the production of migrant'illegality'Nicholas De Genova; 3. Coercive immigration enforcement and bureaucratic ideology Nestor Rodriguez and Cristian Paredes; 4.'Illegality'across generations: public discourse and the children of undocumented immigrants Leo R. Chavez; 5.'Illegality'and the .... Cambridge University Press, 2014.

Payan, Tony. The Three US-Mexico Border Wars: Drugs, Immigration, and Homeland Security: Drugs, Immigration, and Homeland Security. ABC-CLIO, 2016.