by Tanner Wilcox
Ever since the Immigration Act of 1924[1]was put into place, the United States of America has had a more strictly regulated border, not with just Mexico, but with every country. Prior to that, the border was far more relaxed, bordering open borders. In contrast to how it is currently tightly regulated, many people have called for an open border policy while others have called for a closed one. To understand further what the outcomes could even be, a comparative analysis of closed and open borders both past and present is needed to assess the U.S.-Mexico border.
An Open Border in the South:
What are the consequences of having an open border as we see currently with other countries and their history? Consequences, as in having a direct effect on the country and their people, not necessarily a positive or negative effect, but an effect.
One of the consequences of having open borders, or even less strict immigration laws for that matter, is having more people freely enter the country with the intent to make a life for themselves. It also involves the higher and faster expenditure of resources, the potential for more jobs, and a greater diversity of races.
Currently, the United States has more than 350 million people legally crossing the Southern border every year (Taylor). (Bureau)It is the most crossed international boundary in the entire world on a yearly basis. Furthermore, the number of immigrantsthat cross that border vary, but on average every 33 seconds a new migrant comes into the United States, making for more than 956 thousand people yearly immigrating to the United States (Bureau). These are people that have the correct documents such as passports, visas, permanent residence cards, and so on. Historically, however, when you look at the early years of the United States of America, before the 1880s, the borders were open to immigrants, but tightly regulated for naturalization. So, citizens of different countries were allowed to immigrate to the US, but naturalization was given only to those who met, what would now be considered unacceptable requirements. It required that you be a white-male who demonstrated good moral character. This has, for obvious reasons, changed for the better here in the United States. Though the naturalization process still has extensive requirements, it no longer requires that you are white or necessarily a “morally” good person (Smith).
During those early years, the population influx was drastic. Right now, we don’t usually get more than a million[2]immigrants yearly for the majority of the time, but even way back in 1907 when the US was just getting its foot in the door of border regulations there was a peak of 1.37 million immigrants in a single year (Editors). And this was a time when there were only an estimated 1.6 billion people on the Earth (Worldometers)[3]. The equivalent ratio today would be 6.6 million immigrants in a year. Meaning that 1 out of every 49 people in this country would be an immigrant if we were only counting that particular year at a fixed current population of 327 million citizens.
As we have never had such a rise in immigration since the United States began regulating its borders, it is safe to say that when the borders were open there were a greater number of people immigrating to our country.
Concerning the Mexican border however, the United States would only really begin monitoring the border starting in 1910 when the Mexican Revolution broke out. It was also only to make sure that the fighting did not spill over into the United States, for concern of our citizens (Little).
Different countries have different policies with open borders. Take many countries in Europe for example. A majority of which are part of the same “Schengen Agreement.”
Ever since 1985 but traditionally back through the middle ages, the following European countries have agreed on a “free and unrestricted movement of people,” and abolished their internal-international borders: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland (Schengenvisainfo.com).
Before World War I there were no official border restrictions, quotas, or issues with free migration in Europe. After World War II the European countries began to recover quickly. They decided that since not any country was affected alone, and not any single country had enough skilled workers such as engineers, doctors, architects, accountants, etc. to put their own economy back together. They pulled their resources and people together and formed the European Economic Community (EEC) (Koikkalainen). That would later become the European Union. They through common interests, shared resources, and the free movement of people would achieve much.
The consequences these countries have experienced would include the change of emigration of people in the individual countries to the immigration of other citizens to their close-knit society (Koikkalainen). More people would intend to stay, the potential for finding work would soar, and the diversity of the individual countries would adapt to a newer multi-cultural society rather than simply one predominant race and a few other minority races. An open border in the South would have similar consequences where we have not only seen less previous prosperity, but where we already have such an abundance of prosperity here, it could change literally everything about our country’s composition. It is interesting indeed.
Works Cited
Bureau, United States Census. U.S. and World Population Clock. 1 May 2019. 4 April 2019. <https://www.census.gov/popclock/>.
Editors, History.com. U.S. Immigration Before 1965. 15 April 2019. History.com. 25 April 2019. <https://www.history.com/topics/immigration/u-s-immigration-before-1965>.
Koikkalainen, Saara. Free Movement in Europe: Past and Present. 21 April 2011. 16 April 2019.
Little, Becky. The Violent History of the U.S.-Mexican Border, History.com. 14 March 2019. 12 April 2019.
Schengenvisainfo.com. Schengen Area. 18 January 2019. 12 April 2019.
Smith, Marian L. Race, Nationality, and Reality. 2002. National Archives. 15 April 2019. <https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2002/summer/immigration-law-1.html>.
Worldometers. World Population by Year. 2017. 4 April 2019.
[1]See Office of the Historian website: The Immigration act of 1924 (Johnson-Reed Act)
[2]See (Bureau) source.
[3]See also World Population Growth – by Max Roser and Esteban Ortiz-Ospina.
Borderlands 