Criminalizing Immigration: The Social Construction of Borders and National Security

Abstract

Realism, a useful theory for the study of International Relations, is all the more useful when married with Constructivism. Key concepts such as power, borders, and national security are social constructs that require interpretation. This paper examines the social construction of borders in the United States by examining how their enforcement and militarization has changed over time. The rhetoric of threats to national security, which have had little to do with the actual enforcement of borders, demonstrates the dangers of considering security to be an "objective" fact. The questionable deportation of millions of undocumented workers, under the guise of national security policy, demonstrates the dangers of using borders and national security as independent variables without giving heed to how those concepts are constructed.

Keywords: constructivism, constructivist realism, immigration borders, national security