US-Mexico Border

Abstract

The US–Mexico international border was officially established in 1848 with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. It extends 1960 miles from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico, with four US states (California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas) bordering six Mexican states (Baja California, Sonora, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo Leon, and Tamaulipas). There are 14 sister-cities that are paired and interdependent on each side of the border, separated only by the international boundary – most famously, San Diego–Tijuana and El Paso–Ciudad Juarez. There are 42 official crossing points along the US–Mexico border. It is estimated that it is one of the most transited borders in the world, second only to the US–Canada border. Populations along the US–Mexico border also include many indigenous tribes who live on both sides of the border and are separated by the international boundary. There are 26 federally recognized indigenous tribes on the US side, and seven officially-recognized indigenous tribes on the Mexican. Conflict over indigenous sovereignty and immigration law enforcement has emerged recently. Most notably, the Tohono O'odhma people, mostly settled in northern Sonora, Mexico, and in north to central Arizona, have complained that the US Border Patrol has detained and deported members of their nation traveling through their own traditional lands. With the Agreement on Cooperation for the Protection and Improvement of the Environment in the Border Area, signed in 1983 in La Paz, Baja California, Mexico, both the United States and Mexico designated the border region as 62.5 miles (100 kilometers) on each side of the international boundary. Today, 12 million people live in this border region , 90 percent of whom reside in the 14 sister-cities . The population is expected to reach 19.4 million by 2020 (EPA 2009). One of the most important issues, that has actually brought about cooperation among both the United States and Mexico, has been the pollution along the border. Rapid population growth coupled with industrial development and waste has created environmentally unsound air and water quality for the population living in the 14 metropolitan areas along the US–Mexico border. Population growth, as well as migration, unemployment and underemployment, along the border has been closely linked to the emergence and expansion of the maquiladoras – outsourced assembly plants. In 1965, the Mexican government launched the Mexican Industrialization Program (BIP) to provide economic incentives for US and international companies to establish assembly plants in the border region. In 1994, the US–Mexico border was opened up further to trade and assembly plants with the implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Keywords: borders; immigration; migration; violence