The Space Betwen

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the government efforts to regulate, tax, and restrict transborder movement and enforce jurisdictional boundaries within the context of social and economic integration. As the threat of Apaches and filibusters faded, the border shifted from a site where the state proved its power through military defense of its territory to one in which sovereignty was measured in customs collected, immigrants rejected, and bandits arrested. All of these responsibilities demanded that U.S. and Mexican officials attempt to control who and what crossed it. As such, the U.S. and Mexican governments resurveyed the boundary line and established new ports of entry along it. They also dispatched a growing force of customs, immigration, and law enforcement officers to the border to enforce a growing number of conditional restrictions. With these efforts the nation-states increased their presence in everyday life along the border and laid the foundation for the modern border control apparatus.