Border Security: How do we secure the southern border - Essay Example

eland Security has identified several methods to secure the southern border, one of which involves the establishment of a virtual and physical fencing system. Currently, there are significant gaps between the U.S. border and Mexico in which no fencing exists, allowing immigrants to freely walk into the United States with little federal resistance (Blackstone, 2007). The new fencing system, set to be constructed by Boeing Company, would allow border patrol agents to utilize a system of electronic towers which would electronically monitor areas of the border which are most vulnerable (Cole, 2008).

Additionally, the new physical fencing system would provide the country with a more stable barrier to unauthorized foreign entry (Cole). In today’s dwindling national economy, efficient border patrol is being undermined by budgetary issues which is preventing the establishment of larger volumes of agents along the southern border (Blackstone). The virtual and physical fencing system, together, will minimize the requirement for excessive labor payments to new border agents, while further providing American citizens with the security of knowing that their borders are being protected.

From an it takes a village philosophy, in which all citizens and local governments of the country must work together to improve national security, new and progressive training seminars should be conducted to help local government leadership along the southern border to deal with illegal foreign traffic. The Department of Homeland Security is currently working on a strategy which would involve giving local officials more authority for search and seizure situations and become more active participants in the patrol efforts (dhs.gov, 2007).

Because not all areas of the southern border are currently equipped with border patrol agents, situations in which gang members or other harmful foreign traffic have been identified can be handled at the local level. By distributing authority from the federal