Technology use at the Mexico-US border: A “21st Century” Solution?

At the turn of the 21st century, and especially after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, technology use at the Mexico-US border has escalated. Mérida Initiative, a bilateral agreement of cooperation in terms of security, was initially signed by presidents George W. Bush and Felipe Calderón in 2007. A crucial part of this agreement was the construction of a “21st century border” which, through the use of recent technologies and the deployment of more border security personnel, was supposed to improve the “management of the border to enhance security and efficiency.” However, since the start of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, the issue of border security has gained widespread national and international attention, and an opposition between a highly technified (or “virtual”) border —as the one that Mérida Initiative was planning to build— and a concrete, physical wall has emerged. Our work is located at this juncture and, particularly, it analyzes the discourses of different actors (politicians, scholars, journalists, activists) regarding the use of technology at the Mexico-US border through the lens of STS, philosophy of technology and border theory.