Walls and migration Mexico-United States

Resumen

This essay criticizes the construction of a wall along the US-Mexico border to retain undocumented migration. It begins mentioning the assumptions normally accepted in regard the main historical background of Mexican immigration. It argues that this population flow is due to socio-economic inequalities, labor markets in the United States where Mexican and Central American migrants are traditionally inserted, as well as difficulties of their entry. It presents a historical overview of several important walls built in the world and their main purposes. It mentions recent trends of deportation events, highlighting the seemingly contradictory fact of their reduction, which is attributed to reduction of total undocumented migrants due to large voluntary returns and increasing difficulties of crossing the border.