Country Border, Immigration Control and National Security in this Era of Terrorism

Editorial

No home in any civilized society can show, it lacks a secure door/ entrance to a house. In some cases, especially in the case of those most affluent, where there is the presence of an additional outer perimeter fence, with or without exterior interior closed circuit camera. All with the intension to provide security, to protect those in the house and prevent those not invited into that particular house. Similar to the above situation is what exist or should exist or is expected from every sovereign country, to maintain its internal identity and homeland security. Border security is also necessary to regulate what type of good /commodity, humans and animals that are allowed into the receiving country, in order to prevent the introduction of infectious diseases or people with intention to commit terrorist act.

The United States government and people have reacted to certain incidents in recent time, especially in the 21st century when I immigrated into this country after my first visit as a PhD student. The major one was the incident of September 11, 2001, when the Two Towels of World Trade Center in New York City were destroyed via the use of passenger airplanes by terrorists who came into this country on student visa. This attack changed the world and the definition of terrorism and how the world react and combat terrorism. Security procedures in every port of entry changed, that passengers had to be thoroughly searched, a process that has been adopted globally. This writer like many other Americans, enlisted into the US military, because of this attack on this day at various places in the country, and some of us were in the military combat (fight) in Afghanistan, to eradicate the source from where these terrorists were believed to have obtained their support and logistics.

The Anthrax scare also, awaken the nations’ vulnerability of the nation to bioterrorism and couple with the SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) Influenza virus pandemic that was disseminated via global travel, thus exposing the vulnerability of border control officers’ ability or inability to effectively do anything when it comes to preventing or quarantine possible infected travelers with the virus re-entering the country.

Between, March 2014-February 2016, the world witnessed another infectious disease epidemic, knowns as Ebola Virus Disease (EVD); started in a small community in Guinean, West African and disseminated by human migration into neighboring countries. From there, this highly infectious and deadly virus, spread all over the countries in West African by individuals moving across the borders. An infected man, traveled from Liberia to the U.S., named, Mr. Duncan [1] and became the 1st index case of Ebola virus here in the US. Luckily, he did not infect other citizens, if not the U.S. would have experienced what other countries went through, yet, there was panic in the U.S., especially in The State of Texas when people knew this 1st index subject visited a school and interacted with certain individuals [2]. However, certain, European countries were not too lucky like the U.S., as the virus was transmitted into these countries by individuals that had visited Liberia or other countries with the virus.

Response

How did all these impact the nation’s emergence rooms and other medical facilities? As expected, very overwhelming! Stretching the healthcare providers to their limit, so with first responders and if the incidences were not adequately handled, public fear could have led to public panic that could have given rise to some level of anarchy and thus national security issue. National response exposed the country’s lack of readiness, as we saw a CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention), that had to change its response or identification protocol many times [3]. Three or four Airports selected for screening of peoples coming from countries identified to be endemic with the Ebola virus disease, for preliminary screen, were no sooner disbanded before the World Health Organization declared the countries free of the virus. So one then as to question, how serious are our leadership?

As documented in Alakpa, 2016 [4], information indicated that certain groups were desiring to smuggle in bioagents via the southern border and that they are willing to use them to commit terror here in the homeland. Since 2015 till date, France, Belgium and Germany have recorded terrorist attacks that are tied to individuals who are either children of refuges or refuges themselves from countries with Islamic Radical Terrorist groups, and with the ease of crossing country borders among European countries, being one of the major factor, said to be responsible to these attacks. These terrorists, were reported to reside in Belgium, and drove to France to commit attacks and drove back.

As I write this, August 8, 2016, the Obama’s administration just attained its 10,000 Syrian Refugee target, it promised to bring into the U.S. despite opposition and statements by the FBI, and other security directors, that it will be impossible to effectively vet these refugees for ties to Islamic terrorist groups, that have promised to infiltrate refugee flow to the West [5].

It is imperative that policy makers, politicians and the citizens should take this election very serious, and ensure they elect candidates that would sincerely ensure the country’s borders are secured and not compromised and made vulnerable for breaches. The homeland civil security should also be up and ready, with the medical readiness component integrated. The Congress should as a matter of national security, ensure they oversee the executive adheres to the Constitutional mandate of border security.

References

1. Center for Disease Control and Prevention. CDC and Texas Health Department Confirm First Ebola Case Diagnosis in the U.S. 2014.
2. Fernandez M, Onishi N. Scrutiny in Texas to detect whether Ebola has spread. The New York Times. 2014.
3. Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Notes on the Interim U.S. Guidance for Monitoring and Movement of Persons with Potential Ebola Virus Exposure. 2016.
4. Alakpa GE. Perceptions of Military Personnel: Analysis of the Department of Defense’s Counter Bioterrorism Measures at the Tactical Level for the Enhancement of Civil Security Leadership, Management, and Policy. ProQuest. 2015.
5. Homeland Security Committee. Syrian Refugee flows: Security Risk and Counterterrorism Challenges Preliminary Findings of a House Homeland Security Committee Review. 2015.