Post by Shane Bowler. Colgate Class of 2022.

Source: Caldwell, A. (2021, April 21). “Arizona Governor Declares State of Emergency at Border.” Wall Street Journal.

On Tuesday, April 20th, Arizona Governor, Doug Ducey, declared a state of emergency at Arizona’s southern border. According to the article, the Governor declared the state of emergency due to the rapid increase in the number of people crossing the border illegally. Border Patrol agents made 168,000 arrests in March of 2021 compared to 71,000 arrests in December of 2020. The Governor is spending 25 million dollars to fund National Guard troops to be deployed along Arizona’s southern border. However, what is particularly interesting about this decision to call in National Guard troops is that they will not be conducting any law enforcement at the border. In fact, they will be helping to install, maintain and monitor “a state-operated border camera network”. This means that the ability for a potential migrant to illegally cross the U.S. border successfully will decrease since there will now be troops monitoring the border through the camera system on top of the current border patrol. As a result of the decreased likelihood of successfully crossing the border, potential migrants faced with the decision to either illegally migrate or legally migrate will have to choose the legal option if they want to cross in Arizona. If other states along the U.S. southern border do not implement similar actions, it is also likely that potential migrants who plan to cross the border illegally will choose not to cross in Arizona and instead cross the border in other states where the camera system is non-existent due to there being a lower perceived risk when crossing in the other states. Overall, an increase in border surveillance with modern technology is an effective way of preventing migrants from successfully crossing the border illegally while at the same time it deters potential migrants from attempting to cross the U.S. border illegally as the chances of getting caught crossing increase significantly.