Police, Waterworks, and the Construction of the U.S.-Mexico Border, 1924–1954

2019 ◽  
Vol 50 (3) ◽  
pp. 233-256
Author(s):  
C J Alvarez
Keyword(s):  
Environmental History ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
El Paso ◽  
Ciudad Juarez ◽  
Building Projects ◽  
Border Fence ◽  
Mexico Border ◽  
International Boundary ◽  
Physical Construction ◽  
The U.S

Abstract This article examines four major building projects on the U.S.-Mexico border: the straightening of the Rio Grande around El Paso–Ciudad Juárez, the assemblage of the first large-scale border fence, the fabrication of early Border Patrol watchtowers, and the construction of Falcon Dam. These were the first major efforts to transform the international divide through the built environment. By putting these seemingly dissimilar initiatives into conversation with one another, we can better understand the connections between the Immigration and Naturalization Service and the little-known International Boundary and Water Commission; rethink how the political and social construction of the border was achieved through literal, physical construction; and generate new ways of linking border and environmental history.

scholarly journals Border Residents’ Perceptions of Crime and Security in El Paso, Texas

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ernesto Castañeda ◽  
Casey Chiappetta
Keyword(s):  
El Paso ◽  
Large City ◽  
Border Region ◽  
Ciudad Juarez ◽  
Foreign Born ◽  
Sense Of Security ◽  
Mexico Border ◽  
Perceptions Of Crime ◽  
Official Crime ◽  
The U.S

Research has continued to show the overall safety of the U.S. border region contrary to the widespread belief about the insecurity of the U.S.-Mexico border and frequent claims for the need to secure the border in order to prevent the spread of violence into the rest of the country. Rarely do we ask how border residents feel about safety and crime, which could shed significant light on the claims that the border is an insecure warzone posing a threat to the entire country. While calls to secure national borders are common, outsiders’ perceptions of an unsafe border are not supported by official crime rates and statistics, Border Patrol apprehensions, or the everyday experiences of people in American cities along the U.S.-Mexico border. This paper investigates the perception of crime and security, as expressed by the residents of El Paso, Texas, a large city located along the U.S.-Mexico border and directly across from Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. Data come from a National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded survey that asked 919 residents about their perceptions of crime, sense of security and safety in their neighborhood and the city in general. The results show that the overwhelming majority of border city residents feel safe and that those who are undocumented and raised in El Paso are the most likely to report feeling safe or very safe. We also find that the foreign-born population had a statistically significant lower felony conviction rate than those who were U.S.-born, an important qualifier in discussions over immigration and its connection with violence and crime. Contrary to sensationalized claims about border violence, residents of El Paso do not display any of the sense of insecurity experienced in neighboring Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. We present hypotheses about possible causes for these low levels of violence in the U.S.-side of the border and discuss the dissonance between the reality on the border and perception outside of the border region.

scholarly journals Forgotten Border Actors: the Border Reinforcers. A Comparison Between the U.S.–Mexico Border and South American Borders

2002 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 69 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alejandro Grimson ◽  
Pablo Vila
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
El Paso ◽  
The United States ◽  
Ciudad Juarez ◽  
South American ◽  
The Social ◽  
Mexico Border ◽  
History Of ◽  
Good Neighbor ◽  
The U.S

This article is a critique of two different types of essentialisms that have gained widespread acceptance in places as distant as the U.S.-Mexico border and different Mercosur frontiers. Both essentialisms rely on metaphors that refer to the concept of "union," and put their emphasis on a variety of "sisterhood/brotherhood" tropes and, in particular, the "crossing" metaphor. This kind of stance tends to make invisible the social and cultural conflict that many times characterizes political frontiers. The article wants to reinstall this conflictive dimension. In that regard, we analyze two different case studies. The first is the history of a bridge constructed between Posadas, Argentina and Encarnación, Paraguay. The second is the community reaction toward an operation implemented by the Border Patrolin 1993 ("OperationBlockade") in a border that for many years was considered an exemplar of the "good neighbor relationships" between Mexico and the United States, the frontier between El Paso and Ciudad Juárez. Key Words: U.S.-Mexico border, Operation Blockade, Mercosur frontier, political frontier, Argentina, Paraguay, Mexico, United States, Posadas, El Paso , Encarnación, Ciudad Juárez, Border Patrol.

Ambulance Cross-Border Operations Along the U.S.-Mexico Border: Current Practices in the El Paso-Ciudad Juarez Region

2017 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. S55
Author(s):  
David Salgado ◽  
Rafael M. Aldrete ◽  
Dusan Jolovic ◽  
Peter T. Martin ◽  
Gustavo J. Rodriguez
Keyword(s):  
El Paso ◽  
Ciudad Juarez ◽  
Cross Border ◽  
Mexico Border ◽  
The U.S ◽  
Current Practices

Empires and Immigrants

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julian Lim
Keyword(s):  
Native American ◽  
Jim Crow ◽  
El Paso ◽  
The United States ◽  
National Identities ◽  
Ciudad Juarez ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
Demographic Shift ◽  
International Boundary ◽  
Diverse Groups

This chapter frames the nineteenth century borderlands as a theater of movement that had long been marked by imperial contestations and diverse migrations. Native American, colonial, Mexican, and American migrations shaped the region, keeping territorial boundaries porous, and racial and national identities blurred. Following the transformation of the indigenous borderlands to a capitalist borderlands, the chapter traces the seismic demographic shift that drove the region’s rapid industrialization; as the borderlands connected into national, transnational, and global circuits of migration, and oceanic lines fed back into railway connections, white, black, Mexican, and Chinese immigrants descended on the border from all directions. Focusing on the multiple boundaries that intersected at the El Paso-Ciudad Juárez border – namely, the international boundary as well as the limits of Jim Crow that ended where Texas met New Mexico – this chapter shows how and why the late 19th century borderlands looked so promising for these diverse groups. It begins to develop a transborder framework for understanding immigration, emphasizing how the narrowing of economic opportunities, political rights, and social freedoms in both the United States and Mexico contributed to such diverse men and women coming together in the borderlands.

Economic Segmentation and Worker Earnings in a U.S.-Mexico Border Enclave

1988 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 466-489 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scarlett G. Hardesty ◽  
Malcolm D. Holmes ◽  
James D. Williams
Keyword(s):  
El Paso ◽  
Mexican Origin ◽  
Economy Model ◽  
Dual Economy ◽  
Minority Males ◽  
Mexico Border ◽  
The U.S

This study examines the effects of economic segmentation on worker earnings in El Paso, Texas, a city that is a major enclave on the U.S.-Mexico border. The investigation relies on the dual economy model, which maintains that the U.S. economy is divided into a monopoly and a competitive sector. This distinction is thought to be related to worker remuneration, with poorly paying jobs found primarily in the competitive sector. It is hypothesized that females and minority males are disproportionately located in the competitive sector and, therefore, that their income is negatively influenced. These hypotheses were tested using the 1980 U.S. Census Public Use Microdata file for the El Paso SMSA. In contrast to the dominant hypothesis this research found that women, particularly those of Mexican origin, were disproportionately located in the monopoly sector. However, women gained considerably less by virtue of monopoly sector employment than did males, especially those of Anglo origin. Generally the findings are consistent with the possibility that large monopoly sector firms strategically locate labor-intensive divisions in El Paso (and similar areas) because of the large supply of unskilled minority labor.

scholarly journals Retrospective Study of Incidence and Survival for Patients with Hematologic Malignancies Residing at the U.S./Mexico Border

Blood ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 134 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 4782-4782
Author(s):  
Alfonso Enrique Bencomo ◽  
Andres J Rubio ◽  
Mayra Alejandra Gonzalez ◽  
Idaly Maria Olivas ◽  
Joshua Lara ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cancer Patients ◽  
Myeloid Leukemia ◽  
El Paso ◽  
Hematologic Malignancies ◽  
The United States ◽  
The State ◽  
Blood Cancer ◽  
Hispanic Patients ◽  
Mexico Border ◽  
The U.S

Introduction: Hispanics represent the largest minority group in the United States (U.S.), with 57.5 million individuals (18% of the population). Most U.S. Hispanics are of Mexican origin (63.2%), followed by Puerto Rican (9.5%), Cuban (3.9%), Salvadoran (3.8%), and Dominican (3.3%), but distribution varies by state. The majority of Hispanics in the U.S. reside in the Southwest region, and >11 million live in the state of Texas. Cancer is the leading cause of death in the Hispanic population, accounting for 21% of deaths in people of all ages. Health disparities for Hispanic cancer patients have previously been linked to disproportionate poverty and other barriers to optimal healthcare, and in the case of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), Hispanics were found to be diagnosed younger and to have worse overall survival (OS) than Non-Hispanic whites (NHWs) (ACS. Cancer Facts & Figures for Hispanics/Latinos 2018-2020). However, little is known about incidence and survival for Hispanic blood cancer patients residing at the U.S./Mexico border. To understand the impact of Hispanic ethnicity on outcomes for blood cancer patients diagnosed in this area, we examined OS in adult patients with hematologic malignancies throughout the state of Texas compared to Texas Health Service Region (HSR) 10, encompassing El Paso County. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed data available from the Texas Cancer Registry for hematologic malignancies diagnosed in the state of Texas between 1995 and 2016, focusing our analysis on chronic and acute leukemias (both myeloid and lymphoid), myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), and myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs). Survival for Hispanic and NHW groups was compared using the log-rank test, and Cox regression analyses adjusting for age and diagnosis. Differences in age at diagnosis were evaluated using t-tests and generalized linear models. Similar analyses compared Hispanic patients from HSR 10 versus Hispanic patients from the rest of Texas. Research was conducted according to a local Institutional Review Board-approved protocol in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. Results: Of the 69,941 cases of hematologic malignancies with available information throughout the state of Texas, 18.29% self-identified as Hispanic. Surprisingly, in unadjusted analyses, Hispanic patients had significantly better OS than NHWs diagnosed with AML (p<0.0001), MDS (p<0.0001), and chronic myeloid leukemia (CML, p<0.0001), with no significant differences in OS for patients with ALL, MPN, acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL), or chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). However, Hispanic patients were diagnosed at a significantly younger age in all diseases analyzed (Table 1), possibly explaining the improved survival. After adjusting for age, ALL (HR 1.32, p<.0001), CLL (HR 1.11, p=0.002), and CML (HR 1.15, p=0.008) showed significantly worse outcomes for Hispanics, with better outcomes in MDS (HR 0.92, p=0.0004), and no significant differences for AML, APL or MPN. Running the same analyses for the entire El Paso population versus the rest of Texas, we found no significant interaction except for a suggestion of a greater ethnic disparity in CML patients from El Paso (p=0.06). We also compared Hispanic patients diagnosed in El Paso versus Hispanics from the rest of Texas. Hispanics in El Paso had a significant reduction in OS compared to Hispanics in other areas of Texas for patients with ALL (p=0.0164), AML (p<0.0001), and CML (p=0.0160), but not for patients with APL, CLL, MDS, or MPN. Again the negative effects become less marked after adjustment for age, as those diagnosed in El Paso tended to be 3 years older at diagnosis than elsewhere in Texas. In analyses adjusted for age and diagnosis, there was again a suggestion that differences between El Paso and the rest of Texas were greater in Hispanics than NHW (p=0.08). Conclusions: While Hispanic patients with AML, MDS, and CML had significantly better OS compared to NHWs in Texas as a whole, this could be explained by a significant reduction in the age of diagnosis for Hispanics. However, when comparing across Texas, El Paso Hispanics with ALL, AML, and CML have a worse prognosis than in the rest of the state. There appears to be evidence that disparities in outcome by ethnicity may be different in El Paso compared with the rest of Texas. Further study is required to identify factors responsible for the disparity in OS. Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.

scholarly journals Understanding of Mexican Migration to the United States: Rifts and Challenges

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rana Basam Khan ◽  
◽  
Muhammad Nawaz Bhatti ◽  
Ghulam Mustafa ◽  
◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
El Paso ◽  
Rio Grande ◽  
The United States ◽  
Mexican Migration ◽  
Mexican Migrants ◽  
Social Defense ◽  
Basic Segment ◽  
Mexico Border ◽  
The U.S

It has been decades since legislative issues have thought about social, defense, and compassionate issues of migration which has become a touchstone in U.S strategy discussion. Mexican migration to the U.S started in 1848. It has proceeded to the present with no critical interference, something that makes this work movement very particular as a basic segment of the American work advertise. Generally started with enormous development, driven by starvation, political problems, open doors in the U.S; that point eased back, tightened, or unexpectedly finished, from 1850 to 1882, similar to the case of the Chinese. The details show that Mexico is a key source of settlers in U.S and has long been a major source of enemy contact with refugees, but so many have been focusing on Mexico and not the other countries which have also become major sources of illegal immigrants. The United States and Mexico are bordered with California, San Diego, and Baja California, Tijuana, and the Pacific Ocean. The boundary stretches eastward to El Paso, Ciudad Juarez and Chihuahua, Texas, on the Rio Grande. From that point the border continues south-east along the Rio Grande River until the end of it in the Gulf of Mexico. Border stretching of over 1945 miles is insufficiently regulated. Only old solid markers, rusty safety clasp and spoiled dry fence posts can be found in many parts of the place, and the river Grande that over the centuries has continuously changed its course separating both nations. U.S endeavors to control passages and exit adequately have been focused principally along the most profoundly dealt transit courses driving to north. U.S. powerlessness to control all the Mexican boundary has proven that any Mexican involved in operating in the U.S seldom discovers that the frontier is an unlikely trap Through the span of the most recent 170 years, Mexican migrants have to a great extent worked in horticulture, farming, mining, and railroad development.

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