About this product

Product Identifiers

PublisherTexas Tech University Press

ISBN-100896727769

ISBN-139780896727762

eBay Product ID (ePID)117272267

Product Key Features

Book TitleFence : National Security, Public Safety, and Illegal Immigration Along the U. S. -Mexico Border

Number of Pages384 Pages

LanguageEnglish

TopicInternational Relations / Trade & Tariffs, Public Policy / Social Policy, Security (National & International), North America

Publication Year2012

IllustratorYes

GenrePolitical Science, History

AuthorRobert Lee Maril

FormatTrade Paperback

Dimensions

Item Height1.2 in

Item Weight12.3 Oz

Item Length9.2 in

Item Width6.1 in

Additional Product Features

Intended AudienceTrade

TitleLeadingThe

Dewey Edition23

Dewey Decimal363.28509721

SynopsisTo the American public it?s a 2,000-mile-long project to keep illegal immigrants, narcotics, and terrorists on the other side of the U.S.?Mexico border. In the deserts of Arizona, it?s a ?virtual fence? of high-tech electronic sensors, cameras, and radar. In some border stretches it?s a huge concrete-and-steel wall; in others it?s a series of solitary posts designed to stop drug runners; in still others it?s rusted barbed-wire cattle fences. For two-thirds of the international boundary it?s nonexistent. Just what is this entity known as ?the fence?? And more important, is it working? Through first-person interviews with defense contractors, border residents, American military, Minutemen, county officials, Customs and Border Protection agents, environmental activists, and others whose voices have never been heard, Robert Lee Maril examines the project?s human and financial costs. Along with Maril?s site visits, his rigorous analysis of government documents from 1999 to the present uncovers fiscal mismanagement by Congress, wasteful defense contracts, and unkept political promises. As drug violence mounts in border cities and increasing numbers of illegal migrants die from heat exhaustion in the Arizona desert, Maril argues how the fence may even be making an incendiary situation worse. Avoiding preconceived conclusions, he proposes new public policies that take into consideration human issues, political negotiation, and the need for compromise. Maril?s lucid study shows the fence to be a symbol in concrete, steel, microchips, and fiber optics for the crucible of contemporary immigration policy, national security, and public safety., To the American public it's a 2,000-mile-long project to keep illegal immigrants, narcotics, and terrorists on the other side of the U.S.-Mexico border. In the deserts of Arizona, it's a "virtual fence" of high-tech electronic sensors, cameras, and radar. In some border stretches it's a huge concrete-and-steel wall; in others it's a series of solitary posts designed to stop drug runners; in still others it's rusted barbed-wire cattle fences. For two-thirds of the international boundary it's nonexistent. Just what is this entity known as "the fence"? And more important, is it working? Through first-person interviews with defense contractors, border residents, American military, Minutemen, county officials, Customs and Border Protection agents, environmental activists, and others whose voices have never been heard, Robert Lee Maril examines the project's human and financial costs. Along with Maril's site visits, his rigorous analysis of government documents from 1999 to the present uncovers fiscal mismanagement by Congress, wasteful defense contracts, and unkept political promises. As drug violence mounts in border cities and increasing numbers of illegal migrants die from heat exhaustion in the Arizona desert, Maril argues how the fence may even be making an incendiary situation worse. Avoiding preconceived conclusions, he proposes new public policies that take into consideration human issues, political negotiation, and the need for compromise. Maril's lucid study shows the fence to be a symbol in concrete, steel, microchips, and fiber optics for the crucible of contemporary immigration policy, national security, and public safety., As drug violence mounts in border cities and increasing numbers of illegal migrants die from heat exhaustion in the Arizona desert, Robert Lee Maril argues how America?s border fence project may even be making an incendiary situation worse. Avoiding preconceived conclusions, he proposes new public policies that take into consideration human issues, political negotiation, and the need for compromise.

LC Classification NumberJV6565.M37 2012