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The Militarization of the U.S-Mexico Border, 1978-1992: Low-Intensity Conflict Doctrine Comes Home
"Focuses on the growing militarization of US immigration and drug policy along Mexico/US border. Well-researched monograph examines potential for human rights violations by Border Patrol operations and other law enforcement efforts"--Handbook of Latin American Studies, v. 57.
307 pages, Hardcover
First published May 1, 1995
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October 6, 2008
The U.S. border increasingly militarized from 1978-1992, under 3 different U.S. presidential administrations representing both "major" political parties. This militirization took place in the context of U.S. "low-intensity conflict" policies. It developed in relation to the anti-drug wars and an anti-terrorism discourse that related to U.S. intervention in Central America. Although Dunn concentrates his book on documenting the techniques and policies of this increased militarization, he is motivated by his concern for human rights violations. As he argues, "Even in its abstract form, LiC [Low intensity conflict] doctrine greatly extends the reach of military-security apparatuses throughout society, thereby facilitating the militarization of society down to the grassroots level, carried out in order to control targeted civilization populations" (30). In the book's conclusion, Dunn briefly consider NAFTA and the 1992 Los Angeles Riots in the contexts of these implications of LIC on the militarized border.
In determining the presence of Low-Intensity Conflict, Dunn looks primarily at three factors, equipment [like helicopters, night vision equipment, infrared radar, electronic intrusion detection sensors], operational characteristics or strategy and tactics[such as increased coordination between military and local law enforcement], and the overall social control essence of this framework" (151)
In terms of social control, Dunn includes the expansion of INS detention efforts: "Throughout the 1980s, INS detention endeavors were used to punish and deter central American and Caribbean refugees, especially those wishing to apply for political asylum. In the 1990s they were used increasingly against the ambiguously defined population of 'criminal aliens'" ((155).
Who bore the brunt of the social control efforts of a militarized border? "the primary target populations for the enforcement efforts of the Border Patrol have remained undocumented immigrants in the Southwest, smugglers of immigrants and drugs, and persons suspected of being smugglers or immigrants. In practice this meant that both Mexican immigrants and Mexican Americans continued to bear the brunt of the Border Patrol's law enforcement efforts.Thus a growing federal police force with greatly expanded legal authority was largely devoted to overseeing and controlling people of Mexican origin." (155-156).
Moreover,"border militarization may well have helped shape (and, to a much lesser extent, limit) the flow of undocumented immigrants into the United States from Mexico as well as from points further south. And in doing so it served to divide workers both within the United States and internationally. A substantial portion of border-militarization efforts were directly as well as indirectly (via drug enforcement) focused on undocumented immigration. These efforts served to reinforce the criminal status - or at least the nonlegal status - of undocumented immigrants, who were arguably becoming an increasingly vital sector of the U.S. working class . . . Consequentially, their 'illegal' status was an obstacle to the development of labor solidarity between immigrant and native-born workers in the United States" (159).
Dunn contends further that we understand this militarization as "a logical extension of an aggressive U.S. foreign policy towards Central American during the 1980s" (159).
NOTES OF INTEREST:
It should be noted that Dunn opens his book by contextualizing the long history of border militarization through the histories of conquest and colonization that mark the region.
On The LA RIOTS:
Get this! So, 1000 federal agents are sent into "quell" the riot. This includes 400 border patrol agents who are stationed in Latino neighborhoods and arrest 1000 undocumented immigrants for deportation, even though none of them are charged with a riot-related crime. I had never heard this before! (168)
Other Notes:
The militarization of the border reached its "high point under the Bush administration, mainly via the expansion of the War on Drugs." (140).
Much of the militarization focused on the INS (149)
In determining the presence of Low-Intensity Conflict, Dunn looks primarily at three factors, equipment [like helicopters, night vision equipment, infrared radar, electronic intrusion detection sensors], operational characteristics or strategy and tactics[such as increased coordination between military and local law enforcement], and the overall social control essence of this framework" (151)
In terms of social control, Dunn includes the expansion of INS detention efforts: "Throughout the 1980s, INS detention endeavors were used to punish and deter central American and Caribbean refugees, especially those wishing to apply for political asylum. In the 1990s they were used increasingly against the ambiguously defined population of 'criminal aliens'" ((155).
Who bore the brunt of the social control efforts of a militarized border? "the primary target populations for the enforcement efforts of the Border Patrol have remained undocumented immigrants in the Southwest, smugglers of immigrants and drugs, and persons suspected of being smugglers or immigrants. In practice this meant that both Mexican immigrants and Mexican Americans continued to bear the brunt of the Border Patrol's law enforcement efforts.Thus a growing federal police force with greatly expanded legal authority was largely devoted to overseeing and controlling people of Mexican origin." (155-156).
Moreover,"border militarization may well have helped shape (and, to a much lesser extent, limit) the flow of undocumented immigrants into the United States from Mexico as well as from points further south. And in doing so it served to divide workers both within the United States and internationally. A substantial portion of border-militarization efforts were directly as well as indirectly (via drug enforcement) focused on undocumented immigration. These efforts served to reinforce the criminal status - or at least the nonlegal status - of undocumented immigrants, who were arguably becoming an increasingly vital sector of the U.S. working class . . . Consequentially, their 'illegal' status was an obstacle to the development of labor solidarity between immigrant and native-born workers in the United States" (159).
Dunn contends further that we understand this militarization as "a logical extension of an aggressive U.S. foreign policy towards Central American during the 1980s" (159).
NOTES OF INTEREST:
It should be noted that Dunn opens his book by contextualizing the long history of border militarization through the histories of conquest and colonization that mark the region.
On The LA RIOTS:
Get this! So, 1000 federal agents are sent into "quell" the riot. This includes 400 border patrol agents who are stationed in Latino neighborhoods and arrest 1000 undocumented immigrants for deportation, even though none of them are charged with a riot-related crime. I had never heard this before! (168)
Other Notes:
The militarization of the border reached its "high point under the Bush administration, mainly via the expansion of the War on Drugs." (140).
Much of the militarization focused on the INS (149)
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