The state of Texas has given all who want to enforce the Texas-Mexican border the job of security guards.

Texas has launched a virtual border patrol, using the Internet to broadcast images from 10 cameras set up on the border. Individuals can log on to Texasborderwatch.com, set up a free account and obtain access to the cameras’ images. Officials have asked citizens to log on and report any suspicious activity.

Patricia Hamm, assistant professor of political science and U.S. Latino/a studies program assistant, said Sept. 11, 2001, had a sizable impact on immigration policy within the Untied States. With the threat of terrorism, the potential terrorists and unauthorized immigrants have been considered as one problem and efforts have been concentrated to our southern border.

“The idea is that they [terrorists] are likely to come from the south rather than from the north, [but] there is no logical explanation for that,” she said.

James McCormick, professor of political science and department chairman, agreed that the events of Sept. 11, 2001, had a large impact, specifically on the formation of U.S. foreign policy and border enforcement.

“I think that immigration has always been a perennial issue, but I think with 9/11, we had a bit of a jump-start on the concern about the border,” he said.

The success of programs similar to Texas’ are hard to measure because of the absence of effective data collecting, McCormick said.

“Part of the problem is we don’t have a handle on exactly how much border flow there is, so it’s hard to get real, hard data in terms of the success of the program,” he said.

The reasons why individuals come to the United States illegally are not being dealt with, which has caused some to believe there is another answer, Hamm said.

She said these people have proposed to increase the opportunities to come here illegally.

Hamm said right now, the number of legal visas is very limited. Those who want to come work in the United States and are being recruited by employers are unable to come.

The cameras are encouraging citizens to take the law into their own hands, Hamm said.

“It’s kind of like, in a way, encouraging vigilantism, except you are safer [and] you are just at home,” she said.

Due to the recent shift of power in Congress, Hamm believes things will change soon.

“Chances are, we’re going to see changes in direction of immigration policy,” Hamm said. She predicted less support for border enforcement and more support for legalization and guest worker programs.

As an immigrant from El Salvador, Victoria Mu¤oz, senior in Spanish, understands what drives immigrants to come here illegally.

“There was no other way to come legally, so we had to come here illegally,” she said.

Mu¤oz has since become a legal resident, but doesn’t think the cameras will stop people from coming.

Mario Iniguez, graduate student in interdisciplinary graduate studies, agreed.

The harder the government makes it to get across the border, the more likely they will settle here permanently, Iniguez said. He also said he wondered what the true motivation behind this is.

“It sounds like propaganda to fire up the Minutemen,” he said.

Both Mu¤oz and Iniguez said that immigration reform is the answer. Mu¤oz said the current system treats immigrants from different countries unequally.

“They need to come up with a system that is fair,” she said.

The problem is with the current system of immigration, not the current system of enforcement, Iniguez said.

“It’s not broken borders, it’s broken policy,” he said.