Geographic Patterns and Profiling of Illegal Crossings of the Southern U.S. Border

Border control is a crucial component of national security. For a country the size of the United States, however, the length of its land borders and coastlines poses a significant security challenge. Illegal migrant workers, drug couriers, foreign terrorists, smugglers, fugitives, and other criminals benefit from the geographic range and porous nature of American borders. The purpose of this research was to identify facilitating and inhibiting factors of illegal land border crossings in order to determine physical and human geographic features related to the probability of such movement. Identifying the geographic patterns of illegal migration can help the Border Patrol optimize resource allocation and anticipate offender reactions.