How Border Checkpoints Create “Enemies”
José Luis Cano Jr. studies the alien dichotomy of border checkpoints.
[This week’s essay comes from José Luis Cano Jr., a doctoral candidate at Texas Christian University.]
In my hometown, two significant structures mark the road to the beach: SpaceX’s Starbase and Border Patrol’s border checkpoint. This contrast intrigues and perplexes me because Starbase attempts to make outer space a human geography, and the border checkpoint can designate humans as “illegal aliens.” The funkiness in these structures exist in a variety of other forms, relationships, and dynamics at the border. I can’t recall if I was driving for school, vacation, or work when I finally thought: “Why do people need to stop at these border checkpoints in the middle of public highways?”
I’m going to answer my question in a moment, but first allow me to describe the structure and procedure of a border checkpoint. My photo above displays a small- to medium-sized border checkpoint. The Border Patrol places and operates these checkpoints on highways that are up to 100-miles away from the US-Mexico border or any international line. Road barriers funnel traffic into specific lanes, requiring drivers to come to a complete stop. The process and technology of these checkpoints conveys omniscient surveillance. The waving United States flag demonstrate the source of the checkpoints’ authority. The message is clear: in the United States, a person might be watched or stopped at any time.
Border checkpoints convey that, in the United States, a person might be watched at any time.
During checkpoint stops, the Border Patrol interrogates drivers and any passengers about their citizenship status. While doing so, they inspect the interior and exterior of the vehicle for suspicious markers. Despite the technology, infrastructure, and authority, border checkpoints rely heavily on this question-response exchange to make a determination: can the driver be let go or inspected and interrogated further.
As a PhD candidate, I research border checkpoints because I traverse them in my own travels. No matter how routine these stops have become for me, they still vary every time, depending on the agent approaching my vehicle. While these interactions vary, one constant has emerged: my hands tremble when I drive up to a checkpoint. I can’t figure out where the trembling comes from–from reading federal documents, from photographing these sites, from understanding Border Patrol authority, or from experiencing the checkpoints. This research and encounters inform my views on border checkpoints
Checking for What?
To respond to my introductory question, border checkpoints “check” for either citizens or enemies. I use the term “enemy” because the enemy can morph into any shape. This shapeshifting enemy oversimplifies previous and contemporary realities of human migration, interconnected economies, and transnational relations. At a checkpoint, anyone who is not a citizen–or passes as a citizen–could be considered an “enemy.”
This idea of the citizen and the enemy makes it feel logical to build SpaceX’s Starbase next to the border checkpoint on the road to the beach. Starbase presumably expands the world for citizens while the border checkpoint checks for the enemy. Within this alien dichotomy, I suspect that the beliefs, practices, and goals of the current border checkpoint will extend the “enemy” into intergalactic spheres.
Propina
We are grateful to José Luis Cano Jr. for sharing his research with us this week. As a resource related to checkpoints, he notes: The American Civil Liberties Union communicates rights at the border checkpoint through their “Know Your Rights” documentation available in multiple languages.
We’ll see you next week!