Can President Biden's expansion of the border wall with Mexico stop people from crossing?

 Can President Biden's expansion of the border wall with Mexico stop people from crossing?

Starr County in Texas seems calm at first look.

Many of its little, peaceful communities seem to have been taken straight out of an old Western, and its gently sloping hills are covered with low-growing mesquite and bushes that are cut through by small gullies and streams.

However, the US-Mexico border is never far away. On quiet days, people in towns like Roma may easily hear noisy conversations, kids playing, or roosters crowing across the Rio Grande.

The county has long been a popular location for migrants to over the border because of its natural setting, closeness to the river, and ease of access to roads. It is currently the subject of a contentious discussion about US border security.

In sharp contrast to Joe Biden's 2020 campaign promise that he would not build "another foot of wall" as president, the Biden government said on Wednesday that it will construct a 20-mile (32-kilometer) stretch of border wall in the region. On his very first day in office, he stopped the construction.

President Biden and administration officials have asserted that the construction of the new border wall section is being done reluctantly because of money that was specifically appropriated by the Donald Trump administration in 2019. Nevertheless, the announcement has once again sparked a heated discussion over the divisive border control strategy that was once one of Trump's signature policies.

Only roughly 50 miles (80 km) of the border wall that the prior president authorized for restoration and fortification totaled 460 miles (740 km). In light of the increasing number of migrants reaching the southern border, Mr. Trump and several Republican senators have urged for the construction of new border walls since he left office.

The effectiveness of border fences has become a contentious and highly charged political issue.

Academic studies have revealed relatively moderate returns, even if Department of Homeland Security data published in late 2020 shows that new barriers cut unlawful access in certain regions by approximately 90%.

According to one examination of Cato Institute statistics, for instance, Border Patrol recorded an increase in successful illegal crossings and detentions even before the Trump administration ended, indicating the wall was ultimately ineffective.

A third research indicated that border controls decreased migration by 35% and was published in the American Economic Journal: Applied Economics. The research could not discover any evidence to support the idea that the barriers are more efficient than utilizing the money to recruit additional border officers.

For its part, the Biden administration has frequently and categorically said that it does not think the obstacles are effective.

Former US Immigration and Naturalization Service commissioner Doris Meissner told the BBC that the obstacles may be useful in "redirecting" migratory flows to locations that are easier to police.

"The idea of having a barrier somewhere [Starr County] is the fact that the Border Patrol's agents and vehicles don't need to be spread out throughout huge distances, but distances where individuals will be crossing," said Ms. Meissner, who is now a senior fellow at the Migration Policy Institute, which is located in Washington, DC. "That seems to be what they're contemplating the with this proposal."

Even the word "wall" is misleading. Customs and Border Patrol characterizes the border barrier on its website as consisting of picket fences, concrete and steel levees, and, in certain locations, "Normandy barriers"—large metal obstacles that are only intended to block vehicle invasions but are accessible to individuals on foot.

The new wall would reportedly be built up of 18-foot (5.4m) steel fence panels set up in moveable concrete barriers and supported by "detection technology" and illumination, according to CBP.

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The New York City mayor warns migrants, "We have no more room."

Experts point out that even areas with strong, lofty barriers are not invulnerable. The barricades are often climbed by migrants using ladders, ropes, or cutting and climbing through them.

It's more of a speed bump in reality. The journey to the US should only take a few more minutes, according to Adam Isacson, a researcher within the Washington Office on Latin America.

This is by no means an insurmountable obstacle. Children, the elderly, and those with disabilities have a harder time climbing it, and more individuals fall from it and suffer serious injuries or fatalities. But it doesn't seem to discourage folks.

Walls are also "irrelevant if your goal is to turn yourself in" and legally request asylum, according to Mr. Isaacson. Recently, this has accounted for a "significant majority" of all migrant detentions. Upon crossing an international border, asylum seekers are able to lawfully contest their deportation.

News of the border expansion has sparked a range of reactions along the border, where towns are used to being on the front lines of the immigration fight.

Many people of border towns told the BBC that although they support a solid border, they reject the construction of a wall or that they support the concept but have reservations about how it will be carried out.

One of them, activist Jessie Fuentes from Eagle Pass, claimed to have "fought hard" against earlier attempts to build a border wall but finally thought the obstacles were "well engineered" and "set up strategically."

He said, "Fences have a function. "If it's going to help CBP control or set up a route wherever migrants can find shelter or relief, now that's a good thing. But it shouldn't lead people to believe that everything is falling apart," said the spokesperson. It's challenging.

A resident of Webb County, which borders Starr County, named Alex Garcia said he "understands" the necessity for a barrier but is concerned about the effect on the environment and the possibility that migrants "could hurt themselves" trying to cross.

Border "walls" are an idea that existed before both President Biden and former President Trump. Every recent US president has added to or built new border barriers, including 128 miles erected during the Obama administration.

Experts point out that these obstacles haven't had much of an overall influence on the migratory patterns and impetuses that eventually decide the number of migrants that cross the US-Mexico border.

Between 2007 and 2013, Mexico's ambassador to the US, Arturo Sarukhan, argued that despite "red meat politics and dog-whistle narratives" or a "need to neutralise competitive pimping of the issue," "you can't enforce your way out of an immigrant crisis."

"You can't tackle 21st Century problems with 1st cCentury BCE solutions," he said. "The ultimate effect this will have is to keep pumping up profits for organized crime traffickers and illegally entering people and play Whack-a-Mole manipulating migration flows and crossing patterns through the US towards more perilous routes as well as border regions" .