What Should US Expect to See Coming Across Border with Mexico in 2016? Brian Merchant - Motherboard
go to original January 5, 2016

US-Mexico border at Tijuana (US Army)

Thanks partly to Americans' renewed fears of terrorism, the US borders became one of the biggest issues of 2015. Stoked by ISIS's deadly antics, our own pundit class, and certain political candidates, we've been discussing our border with renewed vigor. Donald Trump is a presidential contender right now, basically, because he said he wants to keep people on one side of that border.

So what should we expect to see coming across it in 2016?

Motherboard features editor Brian A. Anderson has been spending so a lot of mental (and IRL) time across that border these days - he's traveled Juarez to document a tragic byproduct of the violence there, he's published stories about the technologies the cartels use to move narcotics across the border, and he works closely with contacts on both sides in his reportage. And he's got another big story on the topic coming up on the topic. Plus, he is just generally a whip-smart journohound, and you should trust him.

So, for our series on 2016 predictions, I dialed up BAA and asked him what we can expect to change across the most-watched border in the world.

What will come across the border in 2016?

Drugs. Mostly weed, cocaine, heroin, and meth.

And people will cross too. As they always have. Though it is important to note that there are currently more Mexicans leaving than entering the US, according to a recent Pew report. The US-Mexico border generally has seen a fairly steady decrease in the number of illegal crossings each year beginning shortly after 9/11 until now. At the same time, while border crossings are down deaths are up.

What role will the border ultimately play in the 2016 presidential elections?

It will be a hot issue again. But it’ll be even more potent this time around, with people like Donald Trump, a frontrunner for the Republican presidential bid, calling for a “temporary ban” on Muslims entering the US (“until we can we figure out what’s going on”) and for building a Great Wall of America the entire length of the 1,954-mile US-Mexico border - and leaving Mexico with the tab.

The logistics of that sort of border wall are phenomenal, by the way. It’s just not going to happen. (As of 2014, only 700 miles of the border had an actual wall, according to the Department of Homeland Security.) Even if it somehow did, someday, go up, is there ever a way of keeping out all the stuff and people coming over and under a border wall, into the US and back the other way too? Not really.

Read the rest at Motherboard

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