"Human Rights Abuses on the U.S.-Mexico Border" by Emily J. Salava
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Abstract

INTRODUCTION This study examines the current human rights abuses found at the United States and Mexico border. For the purposes of this paper, human rights are defined as found in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the United Nations in 1948, but other agreements may be cited for reference. What one person considers an abuse, another person may coin as a reality of life. The focus of this study is on the existence of human rights abuses, but does not specifically examine the historical causes. There are many agencies working in the region and abroad to protect the people and their dignity and to deal with abusers. It is important to understand the border region and a little of its history. Before the arrival of the Europeans, Indians occupied the territory. The border that now stretches 1,952 miles (3,141 kilometers) between the United States and Mexico was non-existent. In the late 1400s and early 1500s, as Spain and England rushed to claim land, a border was created that included Arizona, California, New Mexico, Texas and parts of Colorado, Nevada, and Utah as Mexico’s territory (Figure 1). In 1848 Mexico was forced to cede more than half of its territory and, in 1853, with the Gadsden Purchase the border that exists today was established.

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