Jake Wilson

1/7/05

Reflection Paper

Looking back now on our two week voyage along the Mexican-American border I realize just how amazing of an experience the whole thing was and how much I was able to learn during this voyage. As well most of the things I learned will stick with me for years to come because I actually got to experience them and see them first hand, rather than trying to learn about the incredibly complex border region from a book.

There were many things that stand out in my mind about the trip. For one thing I am amazed that we in fact pulled the whole thing off as well as we did. We negotiated an incredibly volatile area and only had two flat tires and a few arguments. For three vehicles going 3000, on dirt roads at times, that is quite amazing. However the thing that stands out most in my mind is Arizona. Due to the fact that the border patrol has clamped down more in Texas and California much of the traffic, including drugs and people, are going through Arizona. Thus I was rather surprised to arrive in small town Douglas, Arizona and see a huge fence with flood lights. I honestly felt like we were in a war zone, and in some aspects we were in one. However, this is a war, as I found out slowly, that America can not win.

Before the trip began I knew very little of the border other than the Texas area (thanks to the fact that I am from the state). I had a lot of preconceived notions which through the trip were destroyed. For example, I thought most if not all the people in the border patrol hated illegal immigrants and were happy to be catching them and forcing them back into Mexico. Other than trying to find out the truth behind my preconceived notions, I wanted to learn more about the culture and immigration issues along the border. The environment in the border region I already had a fair knowledge on considering my dad was a geologist who used to work in the area and I, myself, have been in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California quite a bit. By the end of the trip I had learned all I wanted to know and much more. For starters I learned very quickly that the people working in the border patrol were nothing like I expected. In general, they saw the border patrol as simply a good paying job especially since most were coming from various police forces. Many of them were in fact Hispanic and really did not hate the illegal immigrants coming across. Also from the meetings with the border patrol in McAllen and El Paso I learned much on how they operate, how successful they are, and I heard some incredible stories of how hard people try to get drugs and immigrants across the border. For instance one person tried to hide inside a lawnmower. I also learned a lot about the balloon affect and I got to see the results of it first hand in Arizona. By balloon affect I am referring to the squeezing of illegal border traffic into the environmentally hazardous areas of New Mexico and Arizona. Continuing on I learned that there are many success stories along the border region. This includes Katie’s cousin’s husband, who came over from Mexico and now owns a dance hall and a bar, and many of the kids who come across from Mexico and go to school and then are able to attend American college, as we learned from Anne in Douglas. On the other hand, drugs are one of the only options for many people along the border to make money. As it is such a lucrative business many youth are moving into that area and even looking up to the higher up bosses as heroes. Sasabe Mexico is a booming town now thanks to drug trafficking otherwise due to its desert location it would be a terribly poverty stricken village. Another thing which really shocked me was how the population of each city on the American side was way smaller than its Mexican counterpart. For instance El Paso is about 800,000 people whereas Juarez is over 2.5 million people or Eagle Pass which is no more than 50,000 people whereas Piedras Negras is like half a million people. These population trends are all across the border and they truly show how all the traffic is obviously heading into America and not vice versa.

This trip has changed the way I look at things quite a bit. For starters it has made me want to travel more often, especially considering how much I learned from this trip. Also it has taught me not to pass judgment on places, cultures, or people until I have gone to those places and seen things for myself. Even books can lead one down the wrong path. It has also showed me that illegal immigrants and drugs coming across are not only necessary but inevitable especially considering the high demand for both and the promise of way higher wages. As long as the government continues to hint that those who get past the border patrol can stay, considering ICE’s limited personnel and resources, no amount of fences or agents will stop the will of the immigrants to seek out and find a better life for them and their families.

Once you study in a way like this it is hard to go back to studying in a classroom environment. I use to think that you could really learn in the classroom. However, compared to being out there and seeing and experiencing whatever it is that you are studying it is a much less sound technique for teaching. Actual studying in a manner like this allows the information you are learning to be more seared into the brain and it allows one to get more interested and excited about the information.