Let’s Get Creative
When I was seven my mom specifically told me not to go into one of the storage closets in our home. I had no interest in the closet before she told me it was off limits. Naturally, I now felt the need to to inspect this closet (I had suspicions that it contained Christmas gifts). One day, after making sure the coast was clear, I went to the closet and grabbed the door handle. Just as I was slowly turning the handle I heard a noise behind me. I whipped my head back and saw my all-knowing mother. She started with the classic, “Grace Christine Colan,” a loving smile and a small shake of her head. I released the door handle and ran to her. The next day I decided to get a little creative. I attempted to peep under the door with my handy dandy flashlight. I saw bottoms of boxes covered in red and green wrapping paper as the light reflected off the metallic paper. Trying not to push my luck, I decided this sight was satisfactory enough for me.
In the same way that I simply found a different way to see behind the door, migrants found a different way to cross the border when the border became militarized. Increased border enforcement emerged as a policy response to the moral panic about the threat of Latino immigration and was led by bureaucrats, politicians and pundits (Massey et. al. 1557). Border enforcement has a negative effect on the likelihood of crossing at a traditional location and the militarization of the border increased the undocumented immigrant population in the U.S. It simply urged migrants to use different strategies to cross, such as with a paid guide. Migrants are more likely to come to the U.S. illegally when labor demand is high in U,S., when wages are high in U.S., when there are few legal entry visas, when Mexican wages are low and when migrants have prior social connections to the U.S. (Massey et. al. 1583).
Just as my mom’s watchful eye caused me to find an alternative way to peak under the door, militarization of the border has caused migrants to find a new way into the U.S. When there is a high demand for labor and high wages in the U.S., increased border patrol is not going to stop migrants from entering illegally even if it causes migrants to get a little creative when it comes to making a new path to the U.S.
