In American politics, the problem of the border is simple: You're either for the wall, or you're against it. For proponents, the wall guarantees security. For opponents, it is costly and ineffective.
What the debate doesn't have is an alternative. Progressives fail to answer the simple question: if not a wall, then what?
In many ways, the answer is staring us in the face. While toxic, exclusionary rhetoric about bordering fills the airwaves, the situation is very different on the ground. Every day new forms of cross-border accommodation are being forged. Across government agencies (DHS, CBP, Border Patrol) a new way of thinking has taken hold: Instead of walling, to make the border safe, we need a strategy that is collaborative and binational–one that works with our partners in Mexico rather than against them.
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