l of their job and what is necessary to achieve it. The Border Patrol inspects all persons seeking admission into the US. They look for anything that would expose fraudulent admission and if necessary detain the individual. The Border Patrol is responsible for intercepting terrorists, alien and narcotic smugglers, criminals, and undocumented individuals from crossing the border into the US. The Border Patrol conducts investigations on violations of the criminal and administrative provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). The investigations enforcement mission has five broad objectives: identify and remove criminal aliens; counter alien smuggling; counter immigration fraud; enforce employer provisions of the INA; and respond to community complaints regarding illegal alien activity (www.ins.gov 2000)Initially the Border Patrol’s enforcement strategy has been to apprehend aliens after they had illegally entered the United States. They set up stations in cities that had high concentrations of illegal immigrants and would try to catch them before they reached their final destination in the US. Recently, the Border Patrol’s enforcement strategy along the Southwest Border changed from apprehending aliens after they had entered illegally to deterring them from entering in the first place. The goal is to concentrate agents on the border to raise aliens’ risk of apprehension to a maximum level and thereby deter aliens and alien smugglers from attempting illegal entry (www.ins.gov 2000). The border extends 1,945 miles and is divided in some places by large steel fences and in other places by concrete boundary markers. The US-Canadian border is twice as long and is undefended.The recent trend of immigration can be placed in the context of globalization, people on the move trying to escape poverty, hunger, civil war, and persecution. The introduction of NAFTA set the trend for entry into the US. People ar...
