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Border Games: Policing the U.S.-Mexico Divide
The U.S.-Mexico border is the busiest in the world, the longest and most dramatic meeting point of a rich and poor country, and the site of intense confrontation between law enforcement and law evasion. Border control has changed in recent years from a low-maintenance and politically marginal activity to an intensive campaign focusing on drugs and migrant labor. Yet the unprecedented buildup of border policing has taken place in an era otherwise defined by the opening of the border, most notably through NAFTA. This contrast creates a borderless economy with a barricaded border. Peter Andreas argues that the sharp escalation in law enforcement provides a political mechanism for coping with the unintended consequences of past policy choices. Law enforcement is enthusiastically embraced as a remedy for the very problems state practices have helped to create. The high-profile display of force, Andreas emphasizes, has ultimately been less about deterring illegal crossings and more about re-crafting the image of the border and symbolically reaffirming the state's territorial authority. Extending the analysis to the borders of the European Union, Andreas identifies different forms of law enforcement escalation that reflect distinct historical legacies and regional contexts. Andreas challenges the notion that borders are irrelevant in an age of globalization and stresses that, rather than eroding, some critical borders are being reinforced and remade.
- GenresNonfictionPolitics
192 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2000
8 people are currently reading
134 people want to read
About the author
Peter Andreas
44 books32 followersPeter Andreas is a professor in the Department of Political Science and the Watson Institute for International Studies at Brown University. He was previously an Academy Scholar at Harvard University, a Research Fellow at the Brookings Institution, and an SSRC-MacArthur Foundation Fellow on International Peace and Security. Andreas has written numerous books, published widely in scholarly journals and policy magazines, presented Congressional testimony, written op-eds for major newspapers, and provided frequent media commentary.
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March 27, 2024
AN ANALYSIS OF BORDER ISSUES EMPHASIZING POLITICAL ASPECTS
Peter Andreas is Professor of International Studies for the Watson Institute at Brown University; previously, he was an academy scholar at Harvard University, and a research fellow at the Brookings Institution. [NOTE: page numbers below refer to the original 2000 158-page paperback edition.]
He wrote in the Preface, “In a relatively short period of time, border control has changed from a low-intensity, low-maintenance, and politically marginal activity to a high-intensity, high-maintenance campaign commanding enormous political attention on both sides of the territorial divide… the size of the U.S. Border Patrol has more than doubled since 1993… What explains the sharp escalation of border policing? That is the underlying question of this book. It is particularly intriguing because … [it] happened at a time and place otherwise defined by the relaxation of state controls and the OPENING of the border---most notably through … NAFTA… The U.S.-Mexico boundary is … the longest and most dramatic meeting point between a rich and a poor country, and the site of the most intensive interaction between law enforcement and law evasion.” (Pg. vii-x) In the first chapter, he adds, “This book traces the practice and politics of policing the flow of drugs and immigrants across the U.S.-Mexican border. I offer and explanation of why such policing has sharply escalated in recent years, placing causal importance on the … feedback effects of past policy choices, the political and bureaucratic incentives and rewards for key state actors, and the symbolic and perceptual appeal of escalation regardless of its actual deterrent effect.” (Pg. 3-4)
He observes, “for many scholars, journalists, and policy practitioners, ‘loss of control’ is the dominant border narrative… The loss-of-control theme provides a powerful narrative. For law enforcement advocates, its seductively simple justification for escalation can be used to provoke alarm and mobilize support for further escalation… By characterizing state policing as largely reactive, it obscures the ways in which the state itself had helped to create the very conditions that generate calls for more policing… Border policing is not simply a policy instrument for deterring illegal crossings but a symbolic representation of state authority; it communicates the state’s commitment to marking and maintaining the borderline… My account of the escalation of border policing places the escalation of border policing places the state front and center.” (Pg. 7-9)
He notes, “The Unted States is by far the world’s number one smuggling target, with illegal drugs and migrants leading the list of imports. The United States is also probably the single largest exporter of smuggled goods if one considers, for example, the mass quantities of American cigarettes, pornographic material, money, weapons, and stolen cars that are smuggled out of the country every year… complaints by Mexico that large quantities of illegal weapons from the United States end up south of the border in violation of Mexican gun control laws generate relatively little U.S. media coverage or concern among Washington policymakers.” (Pg. 16)
He reports, “Corrupt officials provide other essential services as well, such as the fraudulent documents (passports, visas, naturalization cards) that facilitate, most notably, migrant smuggling. Document selling is an enormous business throughout Central America, the primary passageway for the smuggling of Chinese immigrants to the United States.” (Pg. 24)
He states, “The Mexican state itself came to rely on the United States as a safety valve for the nation’s unemployment problem. Though not officially promoting illegal migration, government officials took no steps to curb it, and in some respects Mexican policies actually encouraged such migration. The state-promoted development model generated economic growth---but without significant gains in employment… Increasingly, the exit option included work not only in U.S. agriculture… but also in urban-based sectors of the economy such as services and construction… The problem … was that although their illegal status was part of what made Mexican workers attractive to employers, this status reinforced public hostility. And as their numbers grew… public tolerance gradually deteriorated.” (Pg. 37-38)
He comments, “Even though pouring more resources into an increasingly militarized interdiction campaign made little sense from the standpoint of a cost-benefit calculus, of deterrence, it made a great deal of sense in a political calculus of image projection. With Democrats and Republicans out-toughing each other over the drug issue, pushing for a bigger and better border interdiction effort became a favorite means of displaying political resolve.” (Pg. 43)
He notes, “U.S. officials boasted that the sharp drop in air smuggling displayed the effectiveness of interdiction. But the actual effect was to redirect rather than reduce the drug flow. With much of the traffic pushed out of the air, road transportation networks through Mexico to the U.S. market became an integral component of the cocaine trade.” (Pg. 53)
He points out, “As hoped, Mexico’s antidrug performance helped preserve the upbeat mood in U.S.-Mexican relations on the eve of the NAFTA vote… a positive antidrug image was a prerequisite for passage of the agreement… U.S. officials were not passive bystanders but active collaborators in the effort to recraft Mexico’s drug control image… Pushing NAFTA through Congress also required deflecting concerns that opening the border to legal trade might unintentionally open it to illegal drugs… At least for a time, the administration was able to push aside such worries by pointing to the apparent progress made by the joint U.S. and Mexican interdiction efforts because it would lead to greater U.S.-Mexican antidrug cooperation… Law enforcement officials who thought NAFTA was bad for drug control were repeatedly silenced.” (Pg. 57-59)
He says, “A useful way to make sese of drug corruption is to view bribes and payoffs as the equivalent of paying a tax… increased drug enforcement capacity, while failing to deter the drug trade significantly, successfully increases the capacity to tax the trade in the form of corruption. Smugglers who pay the tax are less pressured by the tax collectors than those who do not… This selective enforcement is pragmatic: officials can perform their job---seizing drugs and arresting smuggler---while also collecting taxes from the drug trade.” (Pg. 62-63)
He states, “The heightened status of immigration control has been reflected n the unprecedented expansion of the INS… The INS budget nearly tripled between FY 1993 and 1999… The rapid growth of the INS is particularly impressive because it has taken place in an era otherwise characterized by government downsizing.” (Pg. 89-90)
He explains, “Massive predictions in state assistance t0o rural areas are creating incentives to migrate… the Mexican government has been cutting back subsidies to peasant farmers… The government’s income subsidy program… has been a poor substitute for the kind of public investment … needed to modernize Mexican agriculture and make small-scale farming truly viable… Thus, even if left politely unmentioned in the official policy debate, illegal immigration has become an integral dimension of U.S.-Mexican economic interdependence.” (Pg. 105-106)
He notes, “If the goal is to reduce the size of the unauthorized immigrant population in the United States, this outcome is an indicator of not only a failed but a counterproductive policy. Yet by contributing to the policy goal of reducing the number of illegal border crossings, it has enhanced the appearance of order.” (Pg. 109)
He summarizes, “The purpose of this book has been to explain this sharp escalation of border enforcement and its distinct trajectories across place and policing missions… my explanation has stressed the role of policy feedback efforts and the primacy of image management and symbolic politics for state actors… The unprecedented effort to police the boundary between the United States and Mexico is particularly striking because it came at the same time that the two countries were embracing a common vision of a border-free North American economic space… this book suggests that the escalation of policing has been less about deterring then about image crafting… The escalation of drug control has propelled a partial militarization of the border, with troubling implications… The crackdown on Columbia’s traffickers failed to reduce the drug supply… It thus fueled greater border corruption and violence, deepened the integration between legal and illegal cross-border commerce, and made the drug problem a more politically explosive issue in bilateral relations… I have pointed to a very different dynamic: one in which borders are transformed rather than transcended…” (Pg. 140 -152)
This book will be of great interest to persons studying the issue of U.S.-Mexico border relations.
Peter Andreas is Professor of International Studies for the Watson Institute at Brown University; previously, he was an academy scholar at Harvard University, and a research fellow at the Brookings Institution. [NOTE: page numbers below refer to the original 2000 158-page paperback edition.]
He wrote in the Preface, “In a relatively short period of time, border control has changed from a low-intensity, low-maintenance, and politically marginal activity to a high-intensity, high-maintenance campaign commanding enormous political attention on both sides of the territorial divide… the size of the U.S. Border Patrol has more than doubled since 1993… What explains the sharp escalation of border policing? That is the underlying question of this book. It is particularly intriguing because … [it] happened at a time and place otherwise defined by the relaxation of state controls and the OPENING of the border---most notably through … NAFTA… The U.S.-Mexico boundary is … the longest and most dramatic meeting point between a rich and a poor country, and the site of the most intensive interaction between law enforcement and law evasion.” (Pg. vii-x) In the first chapter, he adds, “This book traces the practice and politics of policing the flow of drugs and immigrants across the U.S.-Mexican border. I offer and explanation of why such policing has sharply escalated in recent years, placing causal importance on the … feedback effects of past policy choices, the political and bureaucratic incentives and rewards for key state actors, and the symbolic and perceptual appeal of escalation regardless of its actual deterrent effect.” (Pg. 3-4)
He observes, “for many scholars, journalists, and policy practitioners, ‘loss of control’ is the dominant border narrative… The loss-of-control theme provides a powerful narrative. For law enforcement advocates, its seductively simple justification for escalation can be used to provoke alarm and mobilize support for further escalation… By characterizing state policing as largely reactive, it obscures the ways in which the state itself had helped to create the very conditions that generate calls for more policing… Border policing is not simply a policy instrument for deterring illegal crossings but a symbolic representation of state authority; it communicates the state’s commitment to marking and maintaining the borderline… My account of the escalation of border policing places the escalation of border policing places the state front and center.” (Pg. 7-9)
He notes, “The Unted States is by far the world’s number one smuggling target, with illegal drugs and migrants leading the list of imports. The United States is also probably the single largest exporter of smuggled goods if one considers, for example, the mass quantities of American cigarettes, pornographic material, money, weapons, and stolen cars that are smuggled out of the country every year… complaints by Mexico that large quantities of illegal weapons from the United States end up south of the border in violation of Mexican gun control laws generate relatively little U.S. media coverage or concern among Washington policymakers.” (Pg. 16)
He reports, “Corrupt officials provide other essential services as well, such as the fraudulent documents (passports, visas, naturalization cards) that facilitate, most notably, migrant smuggling. Document selling is an enormous business throughout Central America, the primary passageway for the smuggling of Chinese immigrants to the United States.” (Pg. 24)
He states, “The Mexican state itself came to rely on the United States as a safety valve for the nation’s unemployment problem. Though not officially promoting illegal migration, government officials took no steps to curb it, and in some respects Mexican policies actually encouraged such migration. The state-promoted development model generated economic growth---but without significant gains in employment… Increasingly, the exit option included work not only in U.S. agriculture… but also in urban-based sectors of the economy such as services and construction… The problem … was that although their illegal status was part of what made Mexican workers attractive to employers, this status reinforced public hostility. And as their numbers grew… public tolerance gradually deteriorated.” (Pg. 37-38)
He comments, “Even though pouring more resources into an increasingly militarized interdiction campaign made little sense from the standpoint of a cost-benefit calculus, of deterrence, it made a great deal of sense in a political calculus of image projection. With Democrats and Republicans out-toughing each other over the drug issue, pushing for a bigger and better border interdiction effort became a favorite means of displaying political resolve.” (Pg. 43)
He notes, “U.S. officials boasted that the sharp drop in air smuggling displayed the effectiveness of interdiction. But the actual effect was to redirect rather than reduce the drug flow. With much of the traffic pushed out of the air, road transportation networks through Mexico to the U.S. market became an integral component of the cocaine trade.” (Pg. 53)
He points out, “As hoped, Mexico’s antidrug performance helped preserve the upbeat mood in U.S.-Mexican relations on the eve of the NAFTA vote… a positive antidrug image was a prerequisite for passage of the agreement… U.S. officials were not passive bystanders but active collaborators in the effort to recraft Mexico’s drug control image… Pushing NAFTA through Congress also required deflecting concerns that opening the border to legal trade might unintentionally open it to illegal drugs… At least for a time, the administration was able to push aside such worries by pointing to the apparent progress made by the joint U.S. and Mexican interdiction efforts because it would lead to greater U.S.-Mexican antidrug cooperation… Law enforcement officials who thought NAFTA was bad for drug control were repeatedly silenced.” (Pg. 57-59)
He says, “A useful way to make sese of drug corruption is to view bribes and payoffs as the equivalent of paying a tax… increased drug enforcement capacity, while failing to deter the drug trade significantly, successfully increases the capacity to tax the trade in the form of corruption. Smugglers who pay the tax are less pressured by the tax collectors than those who do not… This selective enforcement is pragmatic: officials can perform their job---seizing drugs and arresting smuggler---while also collecting taxes from the drug trade.” (Pg. 62-63)
He states, “The heightened status of immigration control has been reflected n the unprecedented expansion of the INS… The INS budget nearly tripled between FY 1993 and 1999… The rapid growth of the INS is particularly impressive because it has taken place in an era otherwise characterized by government downsizing.” (Pg. 89-90)
He explains, “Massive predictions in state assistance t0o rural areas are creating incentives to migrate… the Mexican government has been cutting back subsidies to peasant farmers… The government’s income subsidy program… has been a poor substitute for the kind of public investment … needed to modernize Mexican agriculture and make small-scale farming truly viable… Thus, even if left politely unmentioned in the official policy debate, illegal immigration has become an integral dimension of U.S.-Mexican economic interdependence.” (Pg. 105-106)
He notes, “If the goal is to reduce the size of the unauthorized immigrant population in the United States, this outcome is an indicator of not only a failed but a counterproductive policy. Yet by contributing to the policy goal of reducing the number of illegal border crossings, it has enhanced the appearance of order.” (Pg. 109)
He summarizes, “The purpose of this book has been to explain this sharp escalation of border enforcement and its distinct trajectories across place and policing missions… my explanation has stressed the role of policy feedback efforts and the primacy of image management and symbolic politics for state actors… The unprecedented effort to police the boundary between the United States and Mexico is particularly striking because it came at the same time that the two countries were embracing a common vision of a border-free North American economic space… this book suggests that the escalation of policing has been less about deterring then about image crafting… The escalation of drug control has propelled a partial militarization of the border, with troubling implications… The crackdown on Columbia’s traffickers failed to reduce the drug supply… It thus fueled greater border corruption and violence, deepened the integration between legal and illegal cross-border commerce, and made the drug problem a more politically explosive issue in bilateral relations… I have pointed to a very different dynamic: one in which borders are transformed rather than transcended…” (Pg. 140 -152)
This book will be of great interest to persons studying the issue of U.S.-Mexico border relations.
May 7, 2024
This book explains perfectly the contradiction between border policy and the rhetoric surrounding American-Mexican border policing. Andreas compares empirical data regarding the efficacy of border policy with the messaging from US and Mexican elected officials. He draws lines between Schengen nations and the US-Mexico divide and highlights why differences exist between Mexico and Canada in terms of border control. Where this book loses its 5th star is in its discussion of undocumented persons and the morality of their decisions. Though Andreas avoids discussions of why people migrate and how justified those actions are, certain portions of the book make clear Andreas’ perception of undocumented persons as not only immoral but also a threat. These comments show the books age and distract from what I found to be well supported and unbiased conclusions.
May 17, 2023
NOTE: I received this as an audiobook for free in return for promising to write an unbiased review.
Definitely worth listening to (or reading) for anyone interested in border topics. Main thrust of the book is that much of border enforcement is political theatre regardless of results. After hearing the introduction, I thought maybe he overstated the case, but he piles up a lot of supporting evidence. The book is really strong on data and references to actual events, implying impressive research. It was a little dry and academic in places and for an audiobook it required a lot of hitting the replay button because the info was often presented pretty densely. I found the earlier history (which made up the previous editions) more compelling than the newer material which seemed less focused (as well as more well known).
Some miscellaneous thoughts about the book:
1) Would have like some comments on to what extent the politicians involved were intentionally creating policies they knew would be ineffective as opposed to actually wanting to achieve results but being unable to.
2) More about why illegal immigration and drugs are seen as problems to the extent that they are; what causes such great passion about these.
3) More about the demand side of the equation, especially demand for drugs (and how the U.S. stacks up against other countries). And why there is so much less support for treatment and for programs to curb demand.
4) Relatedly, some thoughts about better approaches to the border issues. I believe that unchecked use of drugs above the level of marijuana can is undesirable for a society (the reason the Chinese pushed back against the British opium trade in the 19th century, leading to the Opium War and eventual subjugation of China). I also think that leftist though I am, the idea of open borders is putting the cart before the horse. The world isn't ready for it, and it would just create chaos, when there are such differences between nations.
5) More about which Mexicans and Central Americans come to the US and their reasons for coming. Also, why Mexico fails to provide adequate opportunities for them and why it lags so much behind the U.S.
6) I think big missing points in the book are the failure to link the border issues to both the consequences of globalization and to capitalist economics.
All that said, the book is a solid and intelligent effort and worthy of a read (or listen) if you're interested in the topic of borders in any way.
Definitely worth listening to (or reading) for anyone interested in border topics. Main thrust of the book is that much of border enforcement is political theatre regardless of results. After hearing the introduction, I thought maybe he overstated the case, but he piles up a lot of supporting evidence. The book is really strong on data and references to actual events, implying impressive research. It was a little dry and academic in places and for an audiobook it required a lot of hitting the replay button because the info was often presented pretty densely. I found the earlier history (which made up the previous editions) more compelling than the newer material which seemed less focused (as well as more well known).
Some miscellaneous thoughts about the book:
1) Would have like some comments on to what extent the politicians involved were intentionally creating policies they knew would be ineffective as opposed to actually wanting to achieve results but being unable to.
2) More about why illegal immigration and drugs are seen as problems to the extent that they are; what causes such great passion about these.
3) More about the demand side of the equation, especially demand for drugs (and how the U.S. stacks up against other countries). And why there is so much less support for treatment and for programs to curb demand.
4) Relatedly, some thoughts about better approaches to the border issues. I believe that unchecked use of drugs above the level of marijuana can is undesirable for a society (the reason the Chinese pushed back against the British opium trade in the 19th century, leading to the Opium War and eventual subjugation of China). I also think that leftist though I am, the idea of open borders is putting the cart before the horse. The world isn't ready for it, and it would just create chaos, when there are such differences between nations.
5) More about which Mexicans and Central Americans come to the US and their reasons for coming. Also, why Mexico fails to provide adequate opportunities for them and why it lags so much behind the U.S.
6) I think big missing points in the book are the failure to link the border issues to both the consequences of globalization and to capitalist economics.
All that said, the book is a solid and intelligent effort and worthy of a read (or listen) if you're interested in the topic of borders in any way.
May 5, 2023
Good book explaining the reason for the huge influx of Mexican-American border security. Explains how the ‘border crisis’ is less about actually securing the borders than appearing to for political gain. In fact, much of the “tough” measures end up making things even worse. So many people are dying trying to cross the border because politicians want to win elections rather than work to actually solving the issues (work on the US’ drug addiction to stop the influx; move away from the demand of cheap labor, etc). A bit dry but easy and informative.
March 23, 2021
A really interesting read for anyone interested in border politics between the United States and Mexico. Andreas makes some compelling arguments using a wide range of evidence and his writing style is academic without being boring, which is always nice.
January 29, 2024
book on security narratives and the theatre that js American politics
June 12, 2013
Assigned for a class I ended up dropping. Read it anyway. Mildly interesting, but very slow reading, although not super dense--it's hard to explain.
It's one of those books where the entire argument is laid out in the introduction, so I think it's only my sense of commitment that drove me to read the whole thing. Moderately interesting, as I've said, but if it hadn't been for that class I wouldn't have bothered.
It's one of those books where the entire argument is laid out in the introduction, so I think it's only my sense of commitment that drove me to read the whole thing. Moderately interesting, as I've said, but if it hadn't been for that class I wouldn't have bothered.
May 29, 2016
An interesting read to understand how borders work. The US-Mexico border is linked to other examples to highlight the political issues surrounding borders. I think it was an important read to understand the history of politics when this is so prominent in the news right now with political candidates promising to build a war.
June 2, 2007
A great book on border control.
Want to read
October 22, 2008I'll tell you when I've read it
April 2, 2020
Excelent!
Border security & the "drug war" are interrelated big government jobs programs, both built on a house of cards. Don't believe me? Read the book (#MakeReadingGreatAgain).
Border security & the "drug war" are interrelated big government jobs programs, both built on a house of cards. Don't believe me? Read the book (#MakeReadingGreatAgain).
April 26, 2017
An interesting concept with a narrow scope looking out policing and smuggling on the border, and how the border is used as a political theater while allowing illicit activities to continue and using policy to shape the illicit market through criminalization of select goods.
This line seems to sum things up nicely - "...stupid policies can be smart politics"
This line seems to sum things up nicely - "...stupid policies can be smart politics"
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews