Secure the border

Secure the border is an American euphemism often used in a racist context for "we hate smelly Mexicans respectfully decline association with Latin Americans" (although the term itself is applicable throughout the world in reference to neighboring scapegoat countries other than Mexico). This can be most widely evidenced due to the fact that while xenophobes clamor for a secure border between the United States and Mexico, they seem to have little concern for the far larger, undefended border between the U.S. and Canada. And this explanation doesn't even consider the United States' largest border: that being the combined borders with various major bodies of water. After all, you never know when the whales will seek their revenge!

It is also a euphemism for such security theater as national ID cards, massive surveillance, mandatory pre-employment background checks, adding biometric features to Social Security cards, "smart chips" or RFID chips in passports, requiring passports to enter or leave the U.S. from Canada, etc. These will probably make some government contractors rich. What they have to do with "the border" is anyone's guess, although John Tanton, the Michigan activist behind much of the anti-immigration movement, considers these Really Important.

There are many legitimate reasons to strengthening America's land borders. Both the northern and southern borders largely run across vast areas of remote wilderness (especially the northern one); as a result, smugglers can often find their way across it relatively unchallenged. Guns and money can flow south while drugs and violence (and money for the guns, but this is mysteriously never mentioned as a problem) goes north. There is also a concern that if smugglers can sneak large quantities of drugs into the United States, it is possible that they could also sneak in something much worse. Furthermore, illegal immigration can have potentially negative impacts (to citizens) in the labor market, in regards to crime and in relation to partially or fully uncompensated access to infrastructure and social services (including education). Unfortunately, most of these larger concerns seem to get lost in racial rhetoric.