4 ms·

Many countries don't have 2000 mile long borders.

runjake 2y ago
Many don't but many countries do. Take a look at a world map and then note how many other countries have such long borders with countries with whom they have some sort of adversarial risk with. I took a very quick look and stopped after a couple dozen and still had plenty to go. This is a problem not remotely unique to the US.
- jcranmer 2y ago
  The only land borders longer than the US-Mexico border are: US-Canada, Russia-Kazakhstan, Russia-Mongolia, Mongolia-China, Russia-China, Chile-Argentina, Bolivia-Brazil, India-China, and India-Bangladesh. Furthermore, the disparity between the US and Mexico in GDP per capita is pretty stark--over a 3x difference, far more than any other pair of countries with such a long land border. The next largest difference is India-China, and that's not a pairing that's conducive to economic migration, unlike the US-Mexico border.
  - nathancahill 2y ago
    Are you looking at single country pairings for the border size? The closest comparison, both in border length and economic gap is EU/non-EU, when you look at the size of the border along the Mediterranean and the Balkans. Another close comparison is South Africa, 4,862 km border (compared to US-Mexico at 3,145 km). Huge economic gap and even larger migration numbers.
  - hombre_fatal 2y ago
    Here's an example I've seen with my own eyes. An onsite oil rig chemical engineer for https://www.slb.com/ https://www.slb.com/ starts at $17k/year in Mexico but $150k in USA for the same job doing one month on, two week off land rig rotations. You make more money in the US working minimum wage than you do in most jobs in Mexico as a high skilled graduate of a good university like https://tec.mx https://tec.mx.
  - runjake 2y ago
    I'm counting long borders as borders between country A and multiple other countries, with a focus on notable security issues[1] related to borders. One timely example might be Ukraine, with the Belarus/Russia border, where Belarus is a proxy for Russia. 1. Contraband, espionage, aggression, anti-proliferation, proxy attacks, etc etc.
- benopal64 2y ago
  Is the border an actual problem though? Specifically speaking to the US border. Is migration the number one problem that Americans struggle with? Or even in the top ten concerns, your average American holds? I have not had a single issue with migration or an immigrant, ever. I've never met a single person, in the US, with a material issue related to migration or immigration. I have never felt worried about being near a migrant/immigrant based on who they are or their behavior.
  - nathancahill 2y ago
    [flagged]
  - i80and 2y ago
    Makes for an excellent easy-to-sell bogeyman, though.
  - giantg2 2y ago
    I guess you could guage how necessary it is based on your opinion of how useful you find customs, import/export restrictions, etc.
  - jcranmer 2y ago
    > Is migration the number one problem that Americans struggle with? Or even in the top ten concerns, your average American holds? Per recent polling [1], it's the sixth most important issue. It's consistently been raised as one of the top concerns in polling data going back as far as I have political consciousness, although a decent part of the existence of that concern is effectively a dog whistle for racism. > Is the border an actual problem though? The border itself isn't the problem; the actual problem lays in the extremely fucked-up nature of the US immigration system (and the actual problems are almost nothing like what people are complaining about). Even for as long as immigration has been a major political concern in the US, the border "solutions" have for as long been lampooned for the fact that they are doing absolutely nothing to actually fix the problem, even as politicians double down on proposing harsher solutions to fix the thing that isn't the problem. [1] https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2024/09/09/issues-and-the-2024-election/ https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2024/09/09/issues-and-t...

Many don't but many countries do. Take a look at a world map and then note how many other countries have such long borders with countries with whom they have some sort of adversarial risk with. I took a very quick look and stopped after a couple dozen and still had plenty to go. This is a problem not remotely unique to the US.

jcranmer 2y ago
The only land borders longer than the US-Mexico border are: US-Canada, Russia-Kazakhstan, Russia-Mongolia, Mongolia-China, Russia-China, Chile-Argentina, Bolivia-Brazil, India-China, and India-Bangladesh. Furthermore, the disparity between the US and Mexico in GDP per capita is pretty stark--over a 3x difference, far more than any other pair of countries with such a long land border. The next largest difference is India-China, and that's not a pairing that's conducive to economic migration, unlike the US-Mexico border.
- nathancahill 2y ago
  Are you looking at single country pairings for the border size? The closest comparison, both in border length and economic gap is EU/non-EU, when you look at the size of the border along the Mediterranean and the Balkans. Another close comparison is South Africa, 4,862 km border (compared to US-Mexico at 3,145 km). Huge economic gap and even larger migration numbers.
- hombre_fatal 2y ago
  Here's an example I've seen with my own eyes. An onsite oil rig chemical engineer for https://www.slb.com/ https://www.slb.com/ starts at $17k/year in Mexico but $150k in USA for the same job doing one month on, two week off land rig rotations. You make more money in the US working minimum wage than you do in most jobs in Mexico as a high skilled graduate of a good university like https://tec.mx https://tec.mx.
- runjake 2y ago
  I'm counting long borders as borders between country A and multiple other countries, with a focus on notable security issues[1] related to borders. One timely example might be Ukraine, with the Belarus/Russia border, where Belarus is a proxy for Russia. 1. Contraband, espionage, aggression, anti-proliferation, proxy attacks, etc etc.
benopal64 2y ago
Is the border an actual problem though? Specifically speaking to the US border. Is migration the number one problem that Americans struggle with? Or even in the top ten concerns, your average American holds? I have not had a single issue with migration or an immigrant, ever. I've never met a single person, in the US, with a material issue related to migration or immigration. I have never felt worried about being near a migrant/immigrant based on who they are or their behavior.
- nathancahill 2y ago
  [flagged]
- i80and 2y ago
  Makes for an excellent easy-to-sell bogeyman, though.
- giantg2 2y ago
  I guess you could guage how necessary it is based on your opinion of how useful you find customs, import/export restrictions, etc.
- jcranmer 2y ago
  > Is migration the number one problem that Americans struggle with? Or even in the top ten concerns, your average American holds? Per recent polling [1], it's the sixth most important issue. It's consistently been raised as one of the top concerns in polling data going back as far as I have political consciousness, although a decent part of the existence of that concern is effectively a dog whistle for racism. > Is the border an actual problem though? The border itself isn't the problem; the actual problem lays in the extremely fucked-up nature of the US immigration system (and the actual problems are almost nothing like what people are complaining about). Even for as long as immigration has been a major political concern in the US, the border "solutions" have for as long been lampooned for the fact that they are doing absolutely nothing to actually fix the problem, even as politicians double down on proposing harsher solutions to fix the thing that isn't the problem. [1] https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2024/09/09/issues-and-the-2024-election/ https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2024/09/09/issues-and-t...