scholarly journals Border Residents’ Perceptions of Crime and Security in El Paso, Texas

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ernesto Castañeda ◽  
Casey Chiappetta
Keyword(s):  
El Paso ◽  
Large City ◽  
Border Region ◽  
Ciudad Juarez ◽  
Foreign Born ◽  
Sense Of Security ◽  
Mexico Border ◽  
Perceptions Of Crime ◽  
Official Crime ◽  
The U.S

Research has continued to show the overall safety of the U.S. border region contrary to the widespread belief about the insecurity of the U.S.-Mexico border and frequent claims for the need to secure the border in order to prevent the spread of violence into the rest of the country. Rarely do we ask how border residents feel about safety and crime, which could shed significant light on the claims that the border is an insecure warzone posing a threat to the entire country. While calls to secure national borders are common, outsiders’ perceptions of an unsafe border are not supported by official crime rates and statistics, Border Patrol apprehensions, or the everyday experiences of people in American cities along the U.S.-Mexico border. This paper investigates the perception of crime and security, as expressed by the residents of El Paso, Texas, a large city located along the U.S.-Mexico border and directly across from Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. Data come from a National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded survey that asked 919 residents about their perceptions of crime, sense of security and safety in their neighborhood and the city in general. The results show that the overwhelming majority of border city residents feel safe and that those who are undocumented and raised in El Paso are the most likely to report feeling safe or very safe. We also find that the foreign-born population had a statistically significant lower felony conviction rate than those who were U.S.-born, an important qualifier in discussions over immigration and its connection with violence and crime. Contrary to sensationalized claims about border violence, residents of El Paso do not display any of the sense of insecurity experienced in neighboring Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. We present hypotheses about possible causes for these low levels of violence in the U.S.-side of the border and discuss the dissonance between the reality on the border and perception outside of the border region.

scholarly journals Forgotten Border Actors: the Border Reinforcers. A Comparison Between the U.S.–Mexico Border and South American Borders

2002 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 69 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alejandro Grimson ◽  
Pablo Vila
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
El Paso ◽  
The United States ◽  
Ciudad Juarez ◽  
South American ◽  
The Social ◽  
Mexico Border ◽  
History Of ◽  
Good Neighbor ◽  
The U.S

This article is a critique of two different types of essentialisms that have gained widespread acceptance in places as distant as the U.S.-Mexico border and different Mercosur frontiers. Both essentialisms rely on metaphors that refer to the concept of "union," and put their emphasis on a variety of "sisterhood/brotherhood" tropes and, in particular, the "crossing" metaphor. This kind of stance tends to make invisible the social and cultural conflict that many times characterizes political frontiers. The article wants to reinstall this conflictive dimension. In that regard, we analyze two different case studies. The first is the history of a bridge constructed between Posadas, Argentina and Encarnación, Paraguay. The second is the community reaction toward an operation implemented by the Border Patrolin 1993 ("OperationBlockade") in a border that for many years was considered an exemplar of the "good neighbor relationships" between Mexico and the United States, the frontier between El Paso and Ciudad Juárez. Key Words: U.S.-Mexico border, Operation Blockade, Mercosur frontier, political frontier, Argentina, Paraguay, Mexico, United States, Posadas, El Paso , Encarnación, Ciudad Juárez, Border Patrol.

Ambulance Cross-Border Operations Along the U.S.-Mexico Border: Current Practices in the El Paso-Ciudad Juarez Region

2017 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. S55
Author(s):  
David Salgado ◽  
Rafael M. Aldrete ◽  
Dusan Jolovic ◽  
Peter T. Martin ◽  
Gustavo J. Rodriguez
Keyword(s):  
El Paso ◽  
Ciudad Juarez ◽  
Cross Border ◽  
Mexico Border ◽  
The U.S ◽  
Current Practices

Police, Waterworks, and the Construction of the U.S.-Mexico Border, 1924–1954

2019 ◽  
Vol 50 (3) ◽  
pp. 233-256
Author(s):  
C J Alvarez
Keyword(s):  
Environmental History ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
El Paso ◽  
Ciudad Juarez ◽  
Building Projects ◽  
Border Fence ◽  
Mexico Border ◽  
International Boundary ◽  
Physical Construction ◽  
The U.S

Abstract This article examines four major building projects on the U.S.-Mexico border: the straightening of the Rio Grande around El Paso–Ciudad Juárez, the assemblage of the first large-scale border fence, the fabrication of early Border Patrol watchtowers, and the construction of Falcon Dam. These were the first major efforts to transform the international divide through the built environment. By putting these seemingly dissimilar initiatives into conversation with one another, we can better understand the connections between the Immigration and Naturalization Service and the little-known International Boundary and Water Commission; rethink how the political and social construction of the border was achieved through literal, physical construction; and generate new ways of linking border and environmental history.

scholarly journals Turning Research into Practice

2011 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 77-84 ◽  
Author(s):  
Crystal G. Moran ◽  
Charles T. Kozel ◽  
Anne P. Hubbell
Keyword(s):  
Health Disparities ◽  
Policy Development ◽  
El Paso ◽  
Shared Vision ◽  
Border Region ◽  
Hidden Population ◽  
The Public ◽  
Mexico Border ◽  
The Media ◽  
The U.S

Public health studies thus far have not identified methods toward developing a shared vision to reduce health disparities in a unique area such as the U.S./Mexico border region. Purpose: To identify strategies to foster a shared vision among those in the media, the public, and policy arenas to help reduce health disparities in the U.S.- Mexico border. Methods: The Healthy Border 2010 research project included qualitative structured face-to-face interviews with ten individuals, each from Las Cruces, NM, El Paso, TX, and Cd. Juarez, Chih, Mexico, for a total of 30 interviewees from the media, the public and policy affiliations. Participants were identified and selected from the population of agenda-setters in the Paso Del Norte region. A snowball sample was used for studying the sometimes “hidden” population of border region agenda-setters. Data-analysis included extraction, coding, and quantifying of common themes from a transcription of interviews. Findings: Most participants (93%) suggested a systems level approach is required. The second most suggested strategy with 63% of participant support was sensitizing border leaders of the reality of issues in the area. Participants (46%) also suggested networking and media advocacy (40%) strategies as more important than the inclusion of priority audience (23%) or the proper allocation of resources (23%). Conclusion: In review of many current border health issues, there are significant gaps where a clear, shared vision is yet to emerge. When a common vision is well developed in a group or population, that is when genuine cooperative actions foster health policy development.

Concrete Biodeterioration in the U.S.-Mexico Border Region

2010 ◽  
Vol 1278 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. E. Rendon ◽  
M. E. Lara ◽  
S. K. Rendon ◽  
M. Rendon ◽  
X. Li
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Arid Region ◽  
Mexican American ◽  
Groundwater Resources ◽  
The United States ◽  
Border Region ◽  
Hardened Concrete ◽  
Mexico Border ◽  
The U.S ◽  
Sewage Systems

AbstractConcrete biodeterioration is defined as the damage that the products of microorganism metabolism, in particular sulfuric acid, do to hardened concrete. In Canada and in the northern part of the United States, sewer failures from concrete biodeterioration are almost unknown. In the southern part of the United States and in Mexico, however, it is a serious and expensive problem in sewage collection systems, which rapidly deteriorate. Also, leaking sewage systems result in the loss of groundwater resources particularly important in this arid region. Almost every city in the Mexican-American border region, who's combined population is more than 15 million people, faces this problem. The U.S. cities have made some provision to face these infrastructure problems, but the Mexican cities have made less effort. We recommend here the Mexican norm (NMX-C-414-ONNCCE-2004) [1] to be reviewed, or at least that a warning be issued as a key measure to avoid concrete biodeterioration.

Religious Overclaiming and Support for Religious Aggression

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 1011-1021
Author(s):  
Daniel N. Jones ◽  
Adon L. Neria ◽  
Farzad A. Helm ◽  
Reza N. Sahlan ◽  
Jessica R. Carré
Keyword(s):  
The United States ◽  
The Self ◽  
Border Region ◽  
Mechanical Turk ◽  
Self Concept ◽  
Religious Knowledge ◽  
Three Samples ◽  
Mexico Border ◽  
Different Cultures ◽  
The U.S

Agentic self-enhancement consists of self-protective and self-advancing tendencies that can lead to aggression, especially when challenged. Because self-enhancers often endorse aggression to defend or enhance the self-concept, religious self-enhancement should lead to endorsing aggression to defend or enhance one’s religion. We recruited three samples ( N = 969) from Mechanical Turk ( n = 409), Iran ( n = 351), and the U.S.–Mexico border region ( n = 209). We found that religious (but not secular) self-enhancement in the form of religious overclaiming predicted support for, and willingness to engage in, religious aggression. In contrast, accuracy in religious knowledge had mostly negative associations with aggression-relevant outcomes. These results emerged across two separate religions (Christianity and Islam) and across three different cultures (the United States, Iran, and the U.S.–Mexico border region). Thus, religious overclaiming is a promising new direction for studying support for religious aggression and identifying those who may become aggressive in the name of God.

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