Several terms significant for the completion of this project include border, static border, and non-static border. A border is a demarcated boundary that divides one geographical region from another at local, national, and global levels. Borders operate as regulation points and can be controlled by immigration and customs authorities to guarantee internal security and effect rules and regulations. Developments along the border lines can be static or non-static, depending on factors that influence it. Therefore, a static borderline describes a global or geopolitical boundary that stays constant over a protracted period. It denotes that physical, institutional, and legal border elements remain stable without significant changes or modifications. On the other hand, a non-static borderline describes a boundary that is not fixed or is temporary and can be changed or subjected to dispute with time. Diplomatic, territorial, and political disputes can modify such borders. Non-static borders are usually categorized by their unpredictability and the possibility for modifications. In most situations, borders are non-static since economic, political disputes and juridical changes influence changes along with migrants’ resistance and variations in the physical setting (Ganster & Collins, 2021). This project will work on the US-Mexican border. The US-Mexico borderline is not a static thing with a single meaning, instead, it is a collection of entities that are constantly changing and have various implications. Its constancy and transformation are both dependent on the conflicting ideologies and actions of differently situated individuals.
Constant political instabilities in Mexico suggest that the US-Mexican border is non-static due to continuous immigration and illegal human movement. The border between the United States and Mexico serves as a hub for immigration. The quantity of migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers trying to enter the country has varied significantly throughout time (Young, 2021). The dynamic of migratory flows continues to evolve, and this is reflected in the shifting immigration laws and enforcement strategies. Young (2021) claims that one of the most challenging issues the Biden Administration is now confronting is immigration along the border between the United States and Mexico. Although Biden is making fresh efforts to deal with immigration, previous administrations have struggled with the problem for many years. Democrats and Republicans have attempted to handle illegal immigration since the 1970s by enacting more harsh immigration controls, expulsion, and detention measures; however, they have never been able to resolve the issue entirely. Additionally, pull forces in the United States have produced the circumstances necessary for ongoing undocumented migration from Central America. Certain segments of the American economy have become more reliant on low-wage immigrant labor during the 1990s (Young, 2021). The complex and ingrained causes of migration render it impossible for legislators to manage or resolve the current border problem by just investing more funds and resources in more violent border theatrics. After periods of such initiatives, the fundamental dynamics have mostly stayed the same.
Increased trade and economic relationships between Mexico and the USA have modified trade patterns, shifting the usual border practices and regulations and suggesting the border’s non-static nature. In order to provide advantages for economic actors on both sides of the frontiers, nations must resolve boundary treaties. The decisions about where to create, buy, invest, and save money are no longer limited by national boundaries but have a distinctly international bent in today’s world. Trade is concentrated along the U.S.-Mexico border, where millions of dollars worth of products daily pass through. The border has shown its ability to alter with commercial patterns by adapting to modifications in trade policy, including the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) replacing NAFTA (Villarreal et al., 2020). Internationalization has made commercial borders between nations less apparent, resulting in a “borderless world” where choices are made without considering state boundaries. For example, labor, monetary resources, and manufacturing operations cross the US-Mexico border in search of better possibilities beyond their current nation. As a result, it weakens attempts to keep domestic fiscal or economic circumstances significantly different from those elsewhere.
In addition, environmental and ecological fluctuations along the US-Mexican border could render it non-static. Climate variabilities may hasten the pace and level of borderline shift if natural events define boundaries. The border may be impacted by ecological and environmental issues, including natural catastrophes and changing climates (Ganster & Collins, 2021). For instance, climate-related occurrences have caused the Rio Grande River to reroute, requiring changes to border structures and administration (Kropp, 2016). Since establishing the U.S. Border Patrol in 1924, the growth of border enforcement facilities along the Rio Grande River has spread across the area. Surveillance towers were incorporated into the initial wave of border security buildings in the 1930s to provide patrollers with improved views of the area and its people. By 1951, the International Boundary and Water Commission (IBWC) and border security authorities had worked closely together to develop and install the Western Land Boundary Fence Project (Kropp, 2016). Particularly when it comes to the press, the emphasis of such borders is mainly kept on the political and commercial situation in the area, constantly downplaying the effects of growth on the surrounding environment or the crossing river. Most of the Rio Grande’s changes, such as its leveling and redirecting, were accomplished for various causes related to improving border security. People have manipulated rivers that transcend international boundaries for millennia to achieve social and political progress. Creating mitigations for past impacts on natural assets is essential for every region’s ecological well-being, particularly in light of the more volatile climate. Border change could increase uncertainty between hostile or peaceful neighbors and result in accidental conflicts.
The border between the United States and Mexico is dynamic in multiple aspects, yet it also has certain static qualities. For example, the institutional infrastructure and the legal framework. International pacts and accords make up the majority of the legal structure that controls border crossings and is mostly stable. The idea of static qualities is supported by the fact that the border’s limits and official recognition have mostly stayed the same recently. If it is decided that preventing immigrants from entering the nation might stop the dissemination of infectious illnesses, the legislation gives federal medical officials the authority to do so (Gramlich, 2022). In addition to possible expulsion from the United States, migrants who are unable to prove their legal right to be in the nation may also suffer severe consequences. For instance, as they have previously, those apprehended trying to cross the country illegally on many occasions may face criminal charges. Banished immigrants under Title 42 are sent back to their place of origin or last point of transportation (Gramlich, 2022). Nonetheless, those who cross the border into the United States legally have the privilege to apply for asylum without fear of being prosecuted, sent back, employed for political purposes, or split from their families.
On the other hand, the border control structures have offered a feeling of permanency, which includes border enforcement points, customs amenities, and legislative frameworks such as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). While towns around the southern border have long offered reception operations to assist individuals with their immediate demands, localities in the interior of the United States offer less organized forms of assistance. The United States needs a standardized legal framework and a developed, concerted structure for this kind of humanitarian welcome (Shachar, 2020). However, the pandemic outbreak led to the integration of new rules to control the upsurge in COVID-19 infections. The U.S. has instantly replaced the so-called Title 42 limits with comprehensive updated asylum regulations to discourage illegal intersections, ending the COVID-19 border controls that prevented many migrants at the boundary with Mexico (Garrett & Sementelli, 2022). Before the novel rules took effect, hundreds of migrants crossed rivers, scaled barriers, and climbed foundations to reach U.S. territory, hoping to receive expedited processing. The abrupt policy change raised the possibility of an unprecedented strain on the already troubled immigration procedure throughout the country.
Conclusion
Due to changing dynamics affecting its nature, the US-Mexican border cannot be predetermined to be static. Instead, they systematically and deliberately grow or contract in response to the intended groups they come across. The numerous avenues that the moving elements that make up this transition might cross result in boundaries and limits constantly changing in form. The border between the United States and Mexico has a complicated structure that is difficult to describe as static or dynamic. It has static components that offer it consistency, such as the physical topography, the legal system, and the institutional architecture. The boundary is, nevertheless, moving, as shown by several issues and events, including commerce, immigration, border protection, ecological variables, social connections, and legislative changes. Such dynamic features demonstrate the U.S.-Mexico border’s flexibility and resilience amid shifting local and international conditions. Legislators, academics, and ordinary people should comprehend the complexities of the U.S.-Mexico border because it may influence conversations about immigration, commerce, security, and relationships worldwide. In order to manage this critical international boundary more effectively and nuancedly, it might be helpful to acknowledge both the static and dynamic components of the border.
References
Ganster, P., & Collins, K. (2021). The US-Mexican border today: Conflict and cooperation in historical perspective. Roman and Littlefield. https://books.google.co.ke/books?hl=en&lr=&id=F-cZEAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PR5&dq=US-Mexican+Border&ots=e5gdJUd-qi&sig=WTW-WOlDqY2foDprg3F6qCXE1IU&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=US-Mexican%20Border&f=false
Garrett, T. M., & Sementelli, A. J. (2022). COVID‐19, asylum seekers, and migrants on the Mexico–U.S. border: Creating states of exception. Politics & Policy, 50(4), 872-886.
Gramlich, J. (2022). Key facts about Title 42: the pandemic policy that has reshaped immigration enforcement at the US-Mexico border. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2022/04/27/key-facts-about-title-42-the-pandemic-policy-that-has-reshaped-immigration-enforcement-at-u-s-mexico-border/
Kropp, J. (2016). Constructing a River, Building a Border: An Environmental History of Irrigation, Water Law, State Formation, and the Rio Grande Rectification Project in the El Paso/Juárez Valley. https://scholarworks.utep.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1677&context=open_etd
Shachar, A. (2020). Beyond open and closed borders: the grand transformation of citizenship. Jurisprudence, 11(1), 1-27. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/20403313.2020.1788283
Villarreal, A. M., & Fergusson, I. F. (2020). NAFTA and the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). Congressional Research Service Report. https://www.everycrsreport.com/files/20200302_R44981_cb2c8918ab5d623c4954e666604915302585b487.pdf
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