Terroristic Threats through Central and South American Borders

Terroristic Threats through Central and South American Borders

The stable and robust economy in the U.S. serves as motivation for millions of Central and South American immigrants to travel into the U.S. in search of employment opportunities and better living standards. In 1848, the Rio Grande was established as the U.S.-Mexican border, showing that the movement of people and materials across the two regions has a long history. Owing to the Immigration Reform and Control Act legislation of 1986, which granted amnesty to millions of unauthorized refugees, illegal migration became worse (Whitefield, 2011). Subsequently, terrorists plotting clandestine attacks on American soil enter the U.S. through the Central and South American borders.

Terrorists can infiltrate the country via both legal and illegal means using fraudulent documents. Also, they enter the country posing as just refugees or by exploiting illegal human smuggling routes such as the traditional ports of entry (POE), a common route. Other travel routes include the Middle Eastern route, where migrants traveling to Europe first land in Colombia, Peru, and Mexico. Secondly, the Northern and East Africa route where migrants traveling from mostly Sudan, South Africa, and Kenya to European countries initially land in Brazil, Cuba, Ecuador, Bolivia, and Mexico. Thirdly, the Southern Asia route mainly connects Singapore, the Gulf States, and India (Bensman, 2018).

Furthermore, vulnerable and flawed terrorist vetting processes at the borders of the U.S. may encourage clandestine attacks if terrorists pass the border undetected. The smuggling networks for migrant transportation that are well established may also provide terrorists with the capability to travel into the U.S. through its borders. Finally, terrorist organizations fully aware of infiltration at the European borders implicate terrorist threats via the U.S. borders (Bensman, 2019).

In conclusion, terroristic threats are posed to the U.S. from international terrorists entering as refugees via Central and South America. However, when the September 11 attacks happened in 2001, the U.S. received a wake-up call and realized shortcomings in immigration policies and has sought to heighten security measures and increase scrutiny in terrorist detection processes, especially at the POE since then.

References

Bensman, T. (2018). Terrorist Infiltration Threat at the Southwest Border: The national security gap in America’s immigration enforcement debate.

Bensman, T. (2019). What Terrorist Migration Over European Borders Can Teach About American Border Security.

Whitefield, N. (2011). Traveling the Terror Highway: Infiltration of Terror Operatives across the U.S.-Mexico Border.

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Evaluate the threat that may be posed to the U.S. from international terrorists entering via Central and South America.