Insecurity, Instability, and Violence Containment
Children and youth are vilified and criminalized for trying to survive by working in illicit trade markets (or simply being at the wrong place at the wrong time), crossing borders as unauthorized entrants, or living in the shadows in the USA.
The focus placed on demonizing these youth distracts from the global drug market that is worth more than 400 billion (Payan 2013) and the skyrocketing US drug consumption that drives the trade. Border security funding is part of the US government's “violence containment” strategy. Spending in this area is fuelled by portrayals of the border as a zone that is “out of control” due to the influx of drugs and unauthorized migrants. As Peter Andreas states, ““successful” border management depends on successful image management, and this does not necessarily correspond with levels of actual deterrence...the escalation of border policing has been less about deterring than about image crafting” (2009, p. 9).El Paso, Texas, has always been a militarized zone, and this has been reinforced through multiple border patrol and policing operations around drug interdiction, immigration enforcement, and since September 11, 2001, in response to alleged threats of terrorism. The threats of narco-violence and perceived threats of spillover violence into the USA have triggered more calls for border security, despite the spillover effect proving to be minimally felt by US border communities or at best difficult to quantify (Payan 2013). As war rhetoric and policies grow, more youth are made vulnerable.
The Mexican side of the border also follows suit with the establishment of temporary military checkpoints during the bloodiest years of the Mexican War on Drugs (2007-2012). When former Mexican President Calderon launched an antidrug trafficking war in 2006, roughly 67,050 people were killed in Mexico; over 13,000 were murdered in Juarez from 2006 to 2013 (Villagran 2014). Over 420,000 people fled from Ciudad Juarez; roughly 10,000 businesses shut their doors since 2007, and at least 2,000 businesses suffered from extortions (Patterson 2010). Multiple human rights violations were documented in Ciudad Juarez during this time period as locals discussed abuses by both the military and federal police (Meyer et al. 2010; Staudt and Mendez 2015). Drug cartels vying for trafficking corridors from Mexico into the USA have also created havoc in Mexican border cities overshadowing the everyday exigencies of life.
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More on the topic Insecurity, Instability, and Violence Containment:
- Insecurity, Instability, and Violence Containment
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- Introduction
- Harker C., Horschelmann K. (Eds.). Conflict, Violence and Peace. Springer,2017. — 456 p., 2017