Final Assessment - Assignment Example

Final Assessment al Affiliation Final Assessment The European Union and the United s of America each use the Smart Borders plan to do an overall equal purpose. The EU’s plan aims at improving the management of external borders and fight against unequal immigration (Frenzen, 2012). The US and Mexico equally have SMART Borders agreement that helps to ease the rate of the flow of goods and people using state-of-the-art technology. The EU plan allows anyone irrespective of their nationality to cross the internal borders without authorities subjecting them to border checks.

Unlike the EU, the US-Mexican border authorities place stringent controls that make it impossible for citizens of either side to cross the border. The EU members have a substantial judicial co-operation and cross-border surveillance that enables transfer of enforcement of criminal judgments. On the other hand, the US and Mexico have entirely different justice systems effectively hindering cross-border surveillance.The course has impacted my perception of the effectiveness of Homeland Security given the current bloated bureaucracy coupled with bad leadership and lack of inter-agency cooperation.

There are indeed aspects of homeland security that are effective, however; the knee-jerk reactions from successive White House regimes do not entirely convince me that the extent of the current overhaul was necessary. Initially, control of drug trafficking and illegal immigrants was the primary aim of border surveillance (Jerry & Michael, 2014). However, legislations have expanded the mandate to include the fight against terrorism, human trafficking and the prevention of trade in chemical or radioactive material.

The most interesting part of the course has been the topic of illegal immigrants. I have very strong reservations on this subject because I see that the politicians who the Americans have tasked with ending this mess are not willing to fix the problem. They keep on playing politics by maneuvering their parties to gain the Latino vote. I feel that President Obama has taken it too far by stopping the deportation of illegal immigrants through his Executive order. On the Mexican side, the authorities need to show more zeal in dealing with the drug and human trafficking menace if there is going to be any fruitful cooperation between the US and Mexico.

References Frenzen, N. (2012). Heinrich Böll Foundation Study: Borderline- The EU’s New Border Surveillance Initiatives, Assessing the Costs and Fundamental Rights Implications of EUROSUR and the ‘Smart Borders’ Proposals. July 16, 2012. Accessed May 25, 2014. http://migrantsatsea.org/tag/eu-external-borders-fund/Markon, J & Shear, M. (2014).  Justice Department sues Arizona over Immigration Law. Washington Post. July 7, 2010. Accessed May 25, 2014. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/06/AR2010070601928.html