by Tanner Wilcox

The United States had an open border with Mexico for the longest time, that is until 1924 when the Immigration Act and the Border Patrol were set in place, making it so after certain quotas were met immigration was limited. These were not necessarily directed at Mexico, but it was issued toward all foreign nations. In a way, the United States said, “we are closing ourselves off just a little bit, so to preserve what we have now, and to ensure our affairs are in order.”

The United States has never been a “closed-border country” before, but it has regulated its borders substantially[1].  Closed countries have shown many different consequences. Examples I pulled from include the countries of Japan and now North and South Korea.

I chose these because they show that if the United States were ever to close the borders with Mexico, for whatever time length it may be, it would need to be under the “right” circumstances.

Both the Japanese and Korean cultures have been affected like the United States has been affected by war, annexation, border control, and so on.  What we currently see is a freely traveled America and Mexico, and a freely traveled Japan and South Korea. We also see the most mysterious and absolutely closed North Korea. But Japan was once closed too, and it didn’t mean the loss of all freedoms either.There are many different consequences of closing a country. If, and only if, the country is under the right circumstances and with the right intentions should a country be closed.[2]

In Japan’s early history the country was at war with itself much of the time, but when 1639 came the Shogun – Japanese Military Leaders; not the Emperor – united all of the feudal lords or “shogunate” to ensure they had full control over the people (Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.). This made it easy to simply close the country. No one was allowed in or out, except on official government business, for trade with Korea, China, or the Dutch East India Company, an offense punishable by death. However, at this time Japan’s population had been on a decline due to the constant feudal disputes between prefectures, food was slim, and people had not trusted each other. The Shogun were strict, so strict that when he closed the country, he also outlawed all prefectural and feudal usage of the military for internal skirmishes over land and rule. This caused the population to increase drastically; nearly doubling from the estimated 18 million citizens to nearly 31 million (Hayami).

Not only that but because of such raw population growth, they began to trust each other once again. That allowed for more businesses to be started, books to be published causing literacy and education to rise sharply, roads were built across the country making it more accessible to the commonwealth. This lasted for more than 250 years before the United States actually showed up in 1853 on their front door issuing an order to open the country. Since there really was not much that they could do about it, they opened it to select countries that would be good to do business with. Also, though, the United States was allowed to visit Japan any time they wanted and trade with local business as part of the “Treaty of Amity and Commerce” they signed in 1858 (Harris).

As Japan does not have a land border with any country, only during the winter sometimes when there would be an ice-bridge naturally formed between Japan and Russia, they did not really have any border regulation outside of the ports that were common landing areas for foreigners.This made it interesting as they would never really erect a physical barrier to stop people from coming into the country “illegally,” the only force keeping the Japanese in and foreigners out were the military (Encyclopedia).

With a United States equivalent of such an attempt would be what we are seeing today, and what we have seen in the first attempt by the Bush administration with the “Secure Fence Act of 2006.”  The United States under President Bush’s orders would begin the fencing between the United States and Mexico. Ultimately it was never finished due to budget costs, and how unproductive it was seen as from the beginning by other lawmakers. Up until now the border patrol has had the help of the fence and some walls until today, but not across the entire border. This has not been accomplished yet (Congress).

According to Japan’s fine example of preserving people’s lives, improving the job market, education, and life span of its people, closing the country may have wonderful consequences. Yet there is another example of a closed country that shows potential for greater problems.

Now divided North and South Korea, was once under Japanese rule.  Japan had annexed Korea shortly before the first world war and would continue to rule over the country from 1894, officially 1910[3], until the end of World War II in 1945 (Blakemore). When both the 2nd World War and Korean Wars were over the United States and the Soviet Union would help establish the Demilitarized Zone across the 38th parallel of the world. The United States taking control with the South and the Soviet-supported Koreans taking the Northern sector.

This would now show us what it means to have a closed country under “wrong” circumstances. The wrong circumstances would be communism or dictatorship which the North has been under the rule of ever since. There weren’t any real basic freedoms like there were in pre-WWII Japanese eras. In an article issued by the Telegraph written by Mike Wright and David Urban they formally laid out the issues of the closed and impoverished country which people try to flee constantly. There is no freedom of movement in or out of the country, there is no private business sector, there is no non-state-approved media availability, interracial relationships, and the list goes on (Wright).

If the United States were to adopt a closed border policy, it could in no way be like this, or like the past closed border policies of Japan either for that matter.  Though it was not nearly as extreme, it is not moral. Closing the border in the South would have to be different. There is no restriction of free trade with Mexico but closing the border would definitely hurt it.

 

What it comes down to:

 

Looking at the consequences of having open borders and closed borders, there are both many good and many bad things that could happen. This is why the United States has a regulated border with Mexico. Closing it could hurt both parties, opening it could hurt both parties.

We’ve seen that when the border is open skilled workers tend to flock to a more prosperous country and that both hurts and helps the economy both parties. It means more skilled workers here, and less in Mexico. It means there is a higher availability for cheap labor, but also a higher rate of expenditure of our resources. It means there are more people and more jobs, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that there are good jobs. It could lead to prosperity not previously known, or a downfall hitherto unimagined.

We’ve also seen the effects of closing the country off completely to some countries: In the “right” environment it means that the local businesses have a bigger chance to capitalize on their investments, and better jobs are available in the country. It means the expenditure of resources goes down, dropping the cost of living in such a country, and enabling people to become more highly educated. It also gives rise to power and individual gain or destruction like we have seen in North Korea.

The ultimate question is what kind of a people do you want to become? President Thomas Jefferson, one of the founding fathers once said: “The care of human life and happiness and not their destruction is the first and only legitimate object of good government” (Jefferson).

A good government looks out for its people first and then looks to other nations next. In John Locke’s natural rights, we all have the right to life, liberty, and property. In the founding fathers’ unalienable rights, we all have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.  If happiness and life are the first things our government is to seek out for us, then what is the answer at any given time?  That’s for us to decide. Will building a wall at the border create a barrier that will enable us or derail us of our vision of a prosperous America? What kind of people do you want to become, and how do we get there in one piece?

 

Works Cited

Blakemore, Erin. History.com – How Japan Took Control of Korea. 29 August 2018. Monday 29 April.

Congress, 109th. congress.gov. 26 October 2006. 27 April 2019.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Tokugawa Period (Edo Period). 20 July 1998. 27 April 2019.

Encyclopedia, New World. Edo Period. 25 September 2017. 26 April 2019.

Harris, Townsend. Library of Congress, Amity and Commerce. 29 July 1858. 27 April 2019.

Hayami, A. “Populations in Tokugawa Japan: 1600-1868.” Population, Family, and Society in Pre-Modern Japan. Global Oriental, 2010. 99-100.

Jefferson, Thomas. National Archives, Founders Online. 31 March 1809. 27 April 2019.

Museum, Victoria and Albert. The Edo Period in Japanese History. 2016. 26 April 2019.

Wright, Urban. The Telegraph – Brutal and inhumane laws North Koreans are forced to live under. 19 September 2017. 29 April 2019.

 

[1]See border regulations on “How to Enter the U.S.,” site: Usa.gov

[2]Personal opinion later backed by evidence.

[3]Official year of annexation.