Border Wars Final Draft Essay

Submitted By HannaDog04
Words: 3197
Pages: 13

An individual right versus security for the public has been an argument that has been around since the beginning of the United States. Border security is at the tip of this argument. Many people believe that TSA and Border Patrol have gone too far with laws and regulations that they have set up and that they are stomping on both the rights of individuals as well as the rights for the United States economy to improve itself due to these laws and regulations that have been established over time. The opposition has these and other major aspects to argue into why tightened border security is necessary for the United States. Border Security has been an issue since both countries and cities have been established. Building a wall around a city was the first form of border security that was established, these walls were to keep the people inside of the city protected. It also formed a barrier to keep unwanted guests out of those cities and in addition created a barrier between the city and the rest of the land. Walls were built out of stone for the best protection and some spanned around a city or around a whole country. This was just the first and simplest type of border security, it was also the most cost effective type of border security and it got the job done. Increased border security has been a major priority for the United States due to the fear of terrorist attacks like the one that occurred on September 11th. New forms of technology are used by Customs and Border Protection to screen more passengers, vehicles, products, and people crossing into the United States. Increased border security has resulted from the September 11th terrorist attacks on the United States by Al-Qaida. Nations have increased security because of the threat of terrorism. One way to protect from a terrorist attack is to prevent the terrorist or terrorist weapons from entering the country with increased border security. Opposition of increased border security believes that rights are being taken away with the new tightened border security. One major topic being the full body scans at airports, a lot of opposition to the full body scan believes that it reveals too much of a person and that the screener can see every part of the person being scanned. Another major opposition to increased border security is the additional requirement to travel to and from Canada requiring a Passport. In the past, travel between the United States and Canada was easy due to the fact that all a United States citizen had to provide was a birth certificate. Many industries were also opposed to the increased border security between Canada and the United States because it slowed down delivery time on shipments of parts. For some industries like the automotive industry, it is essential for deliveries to reach a destination on time. The auto industry use the method of on time deliveries which means they only order a specific number of parts at a specific time so that the manufacturing plants do not have to store the parts. Manufacturing can come to a halt if the parts do not reach the specific plant on time. This could back up the entire manufacturing process of building a car and cause a chain reaction that could hold production until the shipment arrives. Another point that the opposition makes is that the cost of the new security measures are too great and that they will be passed onto the consumer. Since time delays could be so costly, the companies would have to raise prices on their products. A big debate that has always come about is individual rights versus public safety, this is a debate that has gone on as long as the United States has been around and will continue to be a debate as long as our current democratic system remains the same. Many supporters of lower border security think that it should be the rights of the people to travel in and out of the country as they please and leaving it up to the individual. In the minds of the opposition, this is