AGENCY FRACMENTATION AND ITS EFFECTS ON IMPACT: A BORDERLANDS CASE*

The US-Mexico border is both a line of potential separation and a span of contact and blending of cultures. National and local perceptions and intentions about this boundary often differ, and the formulation and implementation of border policy is thus subject to many conflicting pressures. Not the least are those generated by government agencies with border responsibilities. Perspectives as local, border, and field offices, combined with inter-agency rivalry and uncertain jurisdictions, lead to border management operations that are inconsistent with apparent national (central) policy, illustrated by the complex bureaucracy present in El Paso—the largest urban site on the border. Proposed solutions cluster around improvement of the existing structure (with better equipment, budgets, or staffing) or reorganization of the primary border agencies. Recent efforts by the federal government to introduce changes based on both of these approaches have been markedly unsuccessful, reflecting a continuing inability to resolve fundamental differences of opinion (both intracentral and central-border) on the goals of border policy.