PROTESTING U.S.

-MEXICO BORDER POLICY

SIGNIFICANCE

As of the 2000s, local networks of the Gray

Panthers across the United States comprise a national
organization of members who call themselves intergenerational activists dedicated to social change at the
local, state, and federal levels. The group deals with
more than just issues of the elderly, believing that they
must work to make the United States a better place to
live for the young, the old, and everyone in between.
Many of its members are high school and college
students. Believing that neither the young nor the old
should be ignored, disregarded, or discarded by the
rest of society, the Gray Panthers believe that teenagers and the elderly should be given more responsibilities so as not to waste vast talents and experiences at
both ends of the age spectrum. The Gray Panthers
refute the notion that retirement is the only alternative
for the elderly. Kuhn personally believed that society
has treated older persons as problems of society instead
of persons experiencing problems caused by society.
She has fought to reverse that impression of older
persons. Four issues that Kuhn and the Gray
Panthers have promoted are the abolishment of forced
retirement, exposure of nursing home abuses, reform
in the hearing aid industry, and bringing to light the
stereotyping of older people in the media.
In 1978, the Gray Panthers helped to enact legislation called the Age Discrimination in Employment
Act, which increased the mandatory retirement age in
the United States from sixty-five to seventy years in
most sectors of the economy. Then, in 1987, the Act
abolished mandatory retirement altogether for most
people in the United States. (Some people still must
abide by mandatory retirement policies, such as pilots,
bus drivers, and other such occupations where age has
been shown to be a valid occupational requirement.)
Beginning in 1977, the Gray Panthers founded the
National Citizens Coalition for Nursing Home Reform
and, in 1977, produced the handbook Nursing Homes:
A Citizens Action Guide, which exposed and documented nursing home abuse.
In 1973, the Gray Panthers joined Ralph Naders
Retired Professional Action Group to produce a documentary called Paying Through the Ear, a report on
health care issues for hearing. In 1982, the Gray
Panthers worked with Naders Public Citizen to persuade the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
to monitor and regulate the hearing aid industry with
respect to deceitful practices.
In 1975, the Gray Panthers began one of its most
important programs: the National Media Watch Task
Force. Members of the task force monitored how
seniors were portrayed on television. When they

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found inaccurate or offensive portrayals of older people, members relayed that information to the television
broadcasters in order to eliminate such portrayals of
older people on television. They eventually succeeded
in convincing the National Association of Broadcasters
to modify the Television Code of Ethics so that seniors
were treated with the same respect on the major
networks as were being accorded to minorities and
women.
At the age of sixty-five years, when she was supposed to retire, the hard-working and committed
Maggie Kuhn founded the Gray Panthers. Maggie
Kuhn died on April 22, 1995twenty-five years after
her (supposed) retirement. During her lifetime, Kuhn
championed the fight for human rights, economic and
social justice, international peace, integration, and
mental health. She helped to change how society
treated and regarded the elderly. The Gray Panthers
lives on after her death, helping to deal with policies
related to the elderly.

FURTHER RESOURCES

Books

Kuhn, Maggie. No Stone Unturned: The Life and Times of

Maggie Kuhn. New York: Ballantine Books, 1991.
Web sites

The Gray Panthers. <http://graypanthers.org> (accessed May

31, 2006).
Public Broadcasting Service. Maggie Growls: Filmmaker
Q&A. <http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/
maggiegrowls/qanda.html> (accessed May 31, 2006).
Public Broadcasting Service. The Gray Panthers: Panthers on
the Prowl. <http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/
maggiegrowls/panthers.html> (accessed May 31, 2006).

Protesting U.S.-Mexico Border

Policy
Photograph
By: Denis Poroy
Date: October 1, 2004
Source: Poroy, Denis. Protesting U.S.-Mexico Border

Policy. AP Images, October 1, 2004.

About the Photographer: Denis Poroy is a contributor to

The Associated Press, a worldwide news agency based

in New York.
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PROTESTING U.S.-MEXICO BORDER POLICY

Migrant activists lean against the border fence protesting nightly patrols by citizen volunteers who search for people crossing the USMexico border. PHOTO BY DAVID MCNEW/GETTY IMAGES.

INTRODUCTION

The long history of Mexican migration to the

United States is driven by poverty and a lack of jobs
in Mexico, along with a consistently high level of
demand for cheap labor from employers in the
United States. Mexicans have entered the United
States in massive numbers, some legally and some as
undocumented immigrants, and they are believed to
account for around half of all undocumented immigrants living in the United States.
Over time, there have been variations in the pattern
of Mexican migration to the United States and in the
policy initiatives that have attempted to control and legitimize the flow of immigrants. Up until the late 1970s, the
majority of Mexican migrants exhibited circular migration patterns between the United States and their own
country, entering the United States to work on a temporary basis in farming and other seasonal industries. At this
time, a temporary laborer policy program was initiated to
meet the needs of employers and migrants alike. From
the 1980s onward, however, there have been a large
number of Mexican migrants wishing to settle
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permanently in the United States, and unprecedented

numbers have entered as undocumented immigrants.
Two major Immigration Acts have been passed in
response to the increase in undocumented migration,
especially from Mexico: the 1986 Immigration Reform
and Control Act (IRCA) and the 1996 Illegal
Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility
Act (IIRIRA). Both Acts have focused primarily on
strengthening the operations of the U.S. Border
Control, the enforcement arm of the Immigration and
Naturalization Service (INS). In addition, the IRCA
introduced penalties for employers found to have
knowingly employed undocumented migrants, created
a guest worker program for agricultural laborers and
provided an amnesty for undocumented migrants who
were already long-term U.S. residents. IIRIRA further
strengthened the provisions of the IRCA by increasing
penalties on undocumented migrants and human
smugglers, while at the same time changes were made
in welfare legislation, which had the effect of excluding
many immigrants, both legal and undocumented, from
the public benefits system.
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PROTESTING U.S.-MEXICO BORDER POLICY

PRIMARY SOURCE

Protesting U.S.-Mexico Border Policy Marchers carry a casket along a section of the US-Mexico border in Tijuana to mark the 10th

anniversary of Operation Gatekeeper, October 1, 2004. AP IMAGES.

Although undocumented migrants from Mexico

enter the U.S. in a variety of ways, many simply cross
the border by foot. Therefore, recent immigration
policies have included increasing the budget and
employee numbers of the U.S. Border Control, providing it with advanced military equipment and constructing more fences and ditches along the border.
The strategy has been to implement specific operations in selected areas known to be main crossing
points for migrants. One of these is Operation
Gatekeeper, launched in the San Diego border region
in 1994. Other intensive border control operations
have been conducted in Texas and in central Arizona.
The intended purpose of the operations was not only
to apprehend undocumented migrants found crossing
the border but to act as a deterrent to other potential
migrants. It was thought that the terrain along other

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parts of the border was too harsh and the climate too
extreme for migrants to use as a crossing point. In fact,
many migrants have been prepared to risk their lives
crossing this inhospitable environment.
Although the border control operations appear to
have had some success in reducing border crossings,
the overall number of undocumented migrants entering the United States from Mexico remains high.
Moreover, the border control activity has had the
unintended consequences of redistributing border
crossings to the more inhospitable areas of the border
and increasing the number of deaths among migrants
who succumb to the extremes of climate and environment. They have also apparently led to an increase in
the use by migrants of agents or coyotes to help them
find a route into the United States, as well as the
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PENTAGON WILL REVIEW DATABASE ON U.S. CITIZENS

development in Mexico of large-scale criminal activity

in illegal trafficking of people.

FURTHER RESOURCES

Books

Delaet, Debra L,. U.S. Immigration Policy in an Age of Rights.

Westport, Conn.: Praeger Publishers, 2000.

Morto, Alexander. The Roots of Mexican Labor Migration.

Westport, Conn.: Praeger Publishers, 1994.

PRIMARY SOURCE

Periodicals

PROTESTING U.S.-MEXICO BORDER POLICY

Canales, Alejandro I. Mexican Labour Migration to the

United States in the Age of Globalisation. Journal of
Ethnic and Migration Studies 29 (2003).

See primary source image.

nnn
SIGNIFICANCE

Undocumented immigration, particularly from

neighboring Mexico, has long been one of the main
items on the U.S. political agenda, and one that rouses
considerable public interest and attention. Despite various policy initiatives designed to deter potential undocumented migrants, the overall numbers continue to
rise. A conservative estimate based on the 2002 census
put the total number of undocumented migrants in the
United States at 9.3 million; since this is based on official
population statistics, the true number is likely to be much
higher and also may have risen considerably since 2002.
A key factor underlying the continuing high levels
of undocumented migration is that employers continue to have a demand for low-cost labor, which
migrants are prepared to provide, whether or not
they can enter the United States legally. Policies
designed to make entry to and settlement in the
United States more difficultsuch as increased border
control and exclusion of migrants from welfare benefits
may have some deterrent effect but ultimately many
migrants will consider that it is worth taking the risk
to escape even worse conditions at home.
In 2004, President George W. Bush announced
proposals for a guest-worker program under which
migrants would be allowed to enter and work in the
United States on a three-year, once renewable permit,
and would be allowed to apply for green cards to enable
them to stay in the country. At the same time, the
number of green cards issued to low-skilled workers
would be increased to accommodate the higher demand.
The advantage of these proposals over previous guestworker programs is that they take account of changing
patterns of migration in which seasonal border crossings
for temporary work have been replaced by an increased
demand for permanent settlement in the United States.
If implemented, along with increased border security
measures proposed in 2006, their impact on actual levels
of undocumented migration and the number of border
crossing deaths remains to be seen.
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A N D

Cornelius, Wayne A. Controlling Unwanted Immigration:

Lessons from the United States, 19932004. Journal of
Ethnic and Migration Studies (July 7, 2005).
Griswold, Daniel T. Confronting the Problem of Illegal
Mexican Migration to the U.S. USA Today 131 (March
2003).
Orreniou, Pia M. Illegal Immigration and Enforcement
Along the U.S.-Mexico Border: An Overview. Economic
& Financial Review (January 1, 2001).

Pentagon Will Review

Database on U.S. Citizens
Protests Among Acts Labeled Suspicious
Newspaper article
By: Walter Pincus
Date: December 15, 2005
Source: Pincus, Walter. Pentagon Will Review Database

on U.S. Citizens: Protests Among Acts Labeled

Suspicious. The Washington Post. December 15, 2005.
About the Author: Walter Pincus is the national security
reporter for the Washington Post, a daily newspaper
based in Washington, DC with a circulation of over
five million copies weekly.

INTRODUCTION

In December 2005, the television network NBC

reported that it had obtained a secret 400 page database from the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD)
listing what the military called suspicious incidents
across the United States. The list, known as the
Cornerstone database, was maintained by the Federal
agency CIFA (Counterintelligence Field Activity).
According to a 2003 report of the DoD to Congress,
CIFA is charged with identification and tracking of
terrorists and production of CI [counterintelligence]
assessments and advisories and risk assessment in
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