Border Patrol

Early Contexts

Early efforts at securing the border were informal and met with limited success. When the United States began restricting Chinese migration during the late 19th century, the corresponding need for policing migration arose. In 1904, the U.S. Immigration Service created a force of mounted inspectors to patrol the border with Mexico. Limited in number and training, these patrols had poor results. Unauthorized Chinese entrances from Mexico led Congress to create a horse-mounted border guard in 1915. It was based in El Paso, Texas, and patrolled the border to California with only 75 agents.

The need for policing increased with the Immigration Act of 1917. It made migration more difficult by creating an $8 head tax and a literacy test. Those unable to meet the requirement simply entered [Page 193]illegally. The 1924 immigration legislation added a visa requirement and increased the scope of deportable offenses. To have substance, these measures required an enforcement mechanism, which resulted in the formation of the Border Patrol in 1924.

U.S. border with Mexico. This photo shows the border in Nogales, Arizona, as it appeared on June 21, 2006. Border Patrol agents, now employed by the Department of Homeland Security, contend that the town is a hot spot in the struggle to secure the border. Besides the issue of illegal immigration and smuggling of illegal drugs, the post-September 11th security concerns present challenges to the Border Patrol, as there are a limited number of agents available to secure long stretches of the Canadian and Mexican borders.

Source: U.S. Army photo by Jim Greenhill.

The initial Border Patrol had 450 agents, mostly recruited from Texas law enforcement. Recruits supplied their own horses, and the government provided a salary, a gun, a uniform, and a badge. It was not until the opening of the Border Patrol Academy in El Paso, Texas, in 1932, that agents received formal training. Espionage concerns during World War II stimulated an expansion of the Border Patrol to 1,531 agents. In addition to guarding the border, their work included staffing alien detention camps.

In response to agricultural labor shortages during World War II, the United States and Mexico formed the “Bracero Program” in 1942. It established a quota-based, contract labor system for Mexicans to work in the United States. As many as 450,000 workers migrated annually; an estimated 3 million Mexicans participated in the program before its conclusion in 1964. The Border Patrol policed the system, deporting those violating contracts. Unauthorized migration continued because labor demand exceeded quota and employers were willing to hire noncontract labor, which was cheaper.

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