The Closing of the American Border:

Border Security, the Economy and Foreign Policy After 9/11

The Closing of the American Border: Border Security, the Economy and Foreign Policy After 9/11, was the topic addressed by Edward Alden, Bernard L. Schwartz Senior Fellow at the Council of Foreign Relations. He came over our university in Laredo (Texas) to meet with us and I found it useful to write a report on this conference held by the Western Hemispheric Trade Center.

Every year, millions of people cross the American borders legally or illegally. Some of them come to live in the United-States, and some others come for a short term stay as it is the case with visitors crossing the Canadian-American borders: Given the fact that the price of some products is higher in the U.S. than in Canada, Canadian residents found it easier and costly effective to drive few miles to the U.S. to get the same products with cheaper price. This created a big flow on both sides of the border, and the American administration, in coordination with the Canadian Government had to come up with new solutions to make the move of trade and people more fluid. Thomas Joseph Ridge, former Governor of Pennsylvania from 1995 to 2000, was among the first American officials to bring the problem to the table by stating that the long hours of traffic jams in the U.S.-Canadian borders will definitely harm the economy of the country. One part of the solution was NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement. This agreement was an expansion of the earlier Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement of 1988 and removed restrictions from many categories of goods. The negative part is that this agreement made it easier for drug dealers and illegal immigrants to move freely. And more dangerously, made the infiltration of borders by terrorists easier.

The first thing Americans look at after the 9/11 events was the borders. How to make crossing the borders safer without harming the substantial flow of trade and people? One of the solutions proposed was to launch a program to enforce migration laws. Knowing that the country accounts 600,000 universities approximately, and that some of the 19 terrorists involved in the terrorist attacks were students resident in the U.S. (four of them were illegal), this program will at least have an eye on people who reach the country, and who might represent a threat to American citizens.

Another solution was to build a huge database of the whole American population by launching a program of mass registration to finger-print everybody. But this program seemed to be highly expensive, and the American administration finally renounced to the idea, preferring the first one related to migration enforcement. The Immigration and Naturalization Service played a very important role in securing the borders of the U.S. and deporting over 15,000 illegal immigrants that were found in the U.S. They concentrated their efforts on visitors coming from Muslim countries. They also made it obligatory for anyone coming from those countries to report to the U.S. authorities 30 days after their arrival to the territory. These restrictive measures were not the first to be implemented in the country. Long time before the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the American Custom Services asked the airline companies from all over the world to deliver all the information they have concerning their passengers. The procedure was then extended to all the domestic flights. The main matter of concern was to make available to the custom officers as much information as possible about all the people arriving to the American territory, or flying from one location in the U.S. to another. Thanks to this procedure, the U.S. authorities were able to identify all the 19 terrorists few hours after the attacks.

These strategies were all concerned with the border and security issues, but none of them took into consideration the repercussions of such procedures on the American economy. The Secretary of Homeland Security showed clearly through the steps he took that what matters now for the United-States is security and enforcement of the law, period. The operational control over the American borders was put in the top of his agenda with the idea that: The U.S. should make it so difficult to potential terrorists to get into the country that they will not even try. The problem was how to distinguish between a potential terrorist and a normal visitor. The Homeland Security decided that the only solution will be to make it difficult to access the territory for all the visitors, even if it causes disarrangement for everybody. Once again, not taking into consideration the other variables such as the economy of the country will be harmful to the American citizens. But from the Homeland Security perspective, they consider that their first mission is to insure the safety of the Americans, and they will achieve their mission.

At the end of the conference, students and professors asked some interesting questions to address the issue of security. The conference being held in Laredo, and taking into consideration the important flows of trade and people across the Mexican-American boarders, some of the questions were about how the measures taken in Washington will affect these flows. One of the questions raised the problem of the construction of the big wall that is intended to separate Mexico from the U.S. Edward Allen answered that it will be a mistake to construct that wall, and that doing so will create more problems than find solutions.

Finally, the lecturer informed us that his coming book will be named after the title of this conference, that is, “The Closing of the American Border: Border Security, the Economy and Foreign Policy After 9/11”.

Bonjour bonjour la populace,

Je suis inscrits sur un forum Internet d’étudiants turcs qui s’appelle Zekirdek. Ce forum compte 160 000 membres au niveau de tout le pays, et les administrateurs du forum se chargent d’organiser des sorties, soirées, voyages… au niveau local ou national. Avant hier, c’était la section Ankara qui a organisé une sortie dans une gigantesque aire de repos à 30 minutes de la ville. On a joué au paint-ball, fait des barbecs, chanter, fait du sport et joué plein de jeux bidons. .

Le jeu le plus marrant c’était celui de « uzun esek » qui veut dire « le long âne ». Très populaire en Turquie, c’est surtout entre gamins de 10 ans que ça se joue. Le principe: Les gars du 1er groupe vout jouer le rôle de l'âne, et ceux du 2eme vont essayer de sauter sur l'âne l'un apres l'autre sans tomber. La premiere équipe qui tombe par terre perd, et jouera le rôle de l'âne.

Je vous laisse regarder ces 4 vidéos :)

Bijour bijour,

Avis à toutes les personnes qui veulent venir en Turquie pour une durée de plus d’un mois : Dès que vous débarquez, enregistrez vite votre GSM auprès des autorités compétentes ! J’ai commis la gaffe de ne pas l’enregistrer dès la première semaine, et là ils l’ont bloqué. Pour des raisons de sécurité, et pour éviter la circulation de portables volés, tout GSM qui s’allume en Turquie est bloqué au bout de quelques semaines si ce n’est quelques jours. Moi j’ai été chanceux, ils l’ont bloqué un mois après mon arrivée hihi. Maintenant je dois me rendre auprès de Türk Telekomünikasyon A.Ş. munis de ma facture (c’est obligatoire sinon le gsm est considéré comme volé), payer 5 ou 10 Euros et ils l’enregistreront sur leur système comme autorisé à émettre et recevoir des appels.

Ici les gens ne déconnent pas avec l’autorité, c’est vraiment très stricte. Les gens ont peur de foutre le bordel ou de se fumer des gros joints en plein centre ville comme c’est le cas dans certaines villes en France, Marseille par exemple pour ne pas citer de nom. C’est justifié par le fait que la Turquie est un pays où les militaires ont un grand pouvoir, et chaque turque est obligé d’effectuer un service militaire de 6 mois au minimum. Et s’il est compétent, ils lui proposeront de signer un contrat pour rester avec eux. J’ai ici à Ankara un pote turque (Hassan) qui a été convoqué pour effectuer son service militaire. Ils lui ont mis sur la lettre qu’il sera affecté à Istanbul. Il était heureux comme tout et se la pétait devant ses potes : « héhé bande de loubards, je pars faire la fête à Istanbul, restez crever ici à Ankara et travailler pour subvenir à vos petits besoins». Sauf que le monsieur est parti à Istanbul pendant 2 mois, et il a reçu une autre lettre d’affectation pour partir en Afghanistan. C’était moins marrant là :) Bon il s’est plié aux ordres, et est parti « servir » à Kaboul!

Ce service militaire qui permet de recadrer les jeunes et leur inculquer certaines valeurs (dont le nationalisme) fait que les gens se conforment à l'autorité et sont moins enclins à transgresser les règles.

Tiens je disais l’autre jour que c’est très tendance de mettre des photos sur un blog, et que je mettrai plus souvent de belles photos… dont acte...

Pour information, suivi, communication, le programme de M. Bayrou est "peut-être inexistant ou incohérent". Vérifiez par vous même http://www.programme-bayrou.org/   :) Mais encore (Lisez tout):