The ‘new normal’: border security is national security
American President Donald Trump’s speech in a roundtable at Yuma Border Patrol Station on 22 June in Arizona is important from the border security point of view. It must be noted that the Trump administration has been proactive for quite some time in pumping in vast resources in securing America’s southern border with Mexico. During the roundtable, Trump has rightly said “that border security is national security. It’s just commonsense. We have to know who and what is coming through our borders and to our borders, and we have to be able to defend that”. These words are just a reflection of Trump’s ‘America first’ policy in terms of prioritizing border security.
Trump has further claimed that after his intervention the Arizona border is the most comprehensive border wall structure anywhere in the world, particularly in terms of technological infrastructure. According to him, this improvement in infrastructure has reflected in the reduction in the number of illegal border crossings upto 80 percent, seizure of about 450,000 pounds of drugs, and arrest of more than 2,300 criminal aliens. He also claims that due to strict border control, the United States has effectively prevented a coronavirus catastrophe on the southern border, which has also reduced human smuggling. Trump gives the border wall all the credit for these achievements.
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Trump claims that “with every new mile of the new wall system, the operational capacity of CBP, specifically Border Patrol, is increased. Our ability to enforce the rule of law has increased. Our ability to maintain integrity in the immigration system has increased. Our ability to improve border security has increased.” Trump also says that his border wall with the latest technology is “not just a bunch of steel in the ground” as it is also about roads, technology, and other attributes. However, Trump forgot to mention that these are just improved versions of a bunch of steel and other components that he mentioned as the United States, Israel and India are already using the steel fence on their borders, which functions as a wall with modern technological solutions and improved infrastructure.
Another significant aspect that Trump probably forgot to mention is the emerging and future threats from flying machines to transport the arms and ammunition, drugs and even terrorists, as well as the use of underground tunnels. There have been many incidents to use these emerging technologies by cartels and criminal for illegal purposes. And despite investing so many resources on the border wall, the United States has not come up with sustainable solutions to these threats.
Nobody can dispute the fact that ‘border wall’ has been a political project for President Trump. But global experience shows that what Trump has been advocating all along for improving America’s border security are primarily vender and market-driven solutions, whereas border security needs society-driven solutions which can provide sustainable border security with the active participation of the society. In other words, no ‘wall system’ can be effective and capable without a human angle.
There is a lot of debate in India after India-China border face-off in Ladakh area. What we seem to miss in this debate is the human security aspect on the India-China boundary and its linkages with border security. We are aware that physical terrain is quite inhospitable in the un-demarcated boundary with China. Not much discussion has taken place on why local people failed to alert the intelligence agencies regarding China’s troop buildup and attempts at transgression? It might have happened because these strategic areas have been lacking in basic infrastructures such as roads connectivity, electricity, and other amenities which have forced the local population to migrate to urban areas.
We need to appreciate that in today’s world, border security is synonymous with national security. The priority of any country is to ensure sovereignty by protecting the integrity of its borders. This is more true for India which faces twin border challenges from China and Pakistan. However, as the recent shooting by the BSF of a Pakistani drone carrying arms at Samba sector illustrate that steel feces or border walls are not the panaceas for all the problems that we face at our borders. Attempts to breach the security of borders can be effectively countered when local people are the partners.
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