Irrational Walls: Lesson from the US-Mexico border

This chapter reports the militarization history of the Frontera — the most frequently crossed one, with approximately 350 million legal crossings per year — and then it critically examines its effects, as an example of an irrational strategy to face migration challenges. The Frontera certainly exhibits unique features that endanger any fast and easy exportation for comparative purposes. Analyzing the militarization process that the US-Mexico Border has undergone in recent decades up until the latest enforcement call by President Donald Trump, this study has collected elements proving the irrationality of the wall-building strategy against illegal immigration. The emphasis on border-enforcement effectiveness has somehow led to the underestimation of its non-intentional consequences, both at the macro and micro level. Since its original establishment in the 1840s at the end of the Mexican—American War, it has changed radically in aspect and scope, undergoing a massive militarization process in the last thirty years.