Research Methods Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Research Methods - Essay Example And the trend has accelerated in the past year.† Deputy Chief Patrol Agent of the Border Patrol’s Rio Grande Valley Sector Reynold Garza (2005) said that criminals continue to cross the U.S. borders with Mexico and Canada. Several sources indicated the need for greater border security through a wide range of technological, legislative, and military interventions (Antal, 2010; Meyers, 2003), as well as global agreements (Taylor, 2005). Aside from the need of securing the borders, there are also calls for the consideration of ethical and human rights dimensions of border security (Arreolo, 2010). The U.S. government is called by the international community to consider the rights of poor workers and people searching for an asylum to migrate to the U.S. In addition, some sources argued for the weight of understanding cultural geography, when finding and evaluating solutions to border issues (Arreolo, 2010; Hemphill, 2009). This essay discusses the issue and arguments surroun ding border security. Furthermore, it explores the two most common research designs in criminal justices studies, which are considered in conducting the research for this issue. Finally, it explains the chosen research design and its possible problems and ethical solutions. Statement of the Issue The main issue is that border security measures that are currently employed by the U.S. government are insufficient in responding to the complex issues of legal and illegal migration. The U.S. already employs a wide range of technological, legislative, and military interventions (Antal, 2010; Meyers, 2003), as well as bilateral agreements (Taylor, 2005), but border security issues continue to persist (Antal, 2010; Barlett et al., 2004; Meyers, 2003; Wein, Liu, & Motskin, 2009, p.699). Discussion of the Issue It is important to understand how different parties perceive border security’s issues and the solutions to them. In general, two of the opposing arguments revolve around what the real problem is and how it should be properly resolved. On the one hand, some parties support greater military and physical/technological interventions to secure the borders. On the other hand, others argue that these interventions are not enough, because they do not reflect a deeper understanding of its causes and so they do not respond to the underlying issues of border migration. Supporters of enhanced military and physical/technological interventions argued that the real problem with border security is that it lacks visible and immediate impediments to illegal immigrants (Antal, 2010; Marek, 2007). Antal (2010) described physical barriers to immigrants to deter them from illegal immigration or to catch them, if ever they do successfully go through existing barriers. Marek (2007) reminded people of the criminal elements in Mexico, who can easily spillover to America’s border states and imperil the safety and security of the people in these states. These arguments undersco re that when there are more physical barriers established at the borders, illegal immigrants and people who help them will be less motivated to unlawfully enter the U.S. This thinking is similar to the situational ways of solving crimes, by putting up barriers that will increase the difficulty of conducting the crimes and also boost the chances of being caught. In addition, supporters of these means of border security asserted