A Line in the Water : Lake Erie Charter Captains and the 'Mexicanization' of the Northern Border

Prior to 9/11, there were a mere 334 US agents assigned to monitor the 4,000 mile-long northern border of the United States and 9,000 agents policing the 2,000 mile US-Mexico border. The low-intensity monitoring and de-politicized approach to international security of the past is rapidly acquiring the characteristics of the border to the south. Fueled by the current politics of fear and security anxieties, the northern border has become an increasingly politicized and militarized space with far reaching implications for international relations and the US-Canadian economies at both the macro and micro level. To examine the implications for and consequences of the hardening or “Mexicanization” of the northern border on the micro level, field research for a case study was conducted in the fall of 2011 with a group of Lake Erie charter fishing captains in northern Ohio. Accustomed to plying the internationally shared waters of the lake in search of productive fishing sites for their customers with little concern for the invisible ‘line in the water’ demarcating Canada from the US, the charter captains traditional economic patterns have been altered and constrained by the heightened security measures imposed and confusingly administrated by the multiple overlapping government agencies on the lake. Within this context of diminishing latitude and increased challenges to pursue their economic endeavors, the political question for the captains became, “is the need for national security — as symbolized by the hardening of the northern border with Canada—perceived as sufficient justification for the constraints imposed on the traditional economic activities and patterns for the charter captains?” The hypothesis is increases in security measures at the border have a negative effect on the economic patterns and activities of charter captains and, therefore, one would expect the captains’ support for border security measures would decrease as a result. The outcomes of the interviews in the 2011 study were noteworthy, mixed, and unexpected. With major expenditures and a vastly increased presence of border security agents in the study area since 2011, this longitudinal study of the captains’ perception of the accelerating "Mexicanization" of the northern border continued during the summer of 2014. In the context of the theme of national security and globalization, the findings of this 2012 and 2014 case study has utility for offering us insights into the experience of everyday people confronting these issues and their localized interpretation of progressively restrictive policies in an increasingly globalized economy