dah X2

Mari Jacobson
10/5/07
Per. 1/3
Agent Moffitt's visitation to our class proved to be very engaging and informational, and gave me a much better idea of what the job of a border patrol agent entails. It was an especially valuable talk for me, for prior to him coming into our class, I did not have a clear understanding of what the job goals and general aims of the border patrol were. I was not even certain of the exact role that the border patrol plays in the monitoring of illegal immigration, and was confused as to if the organization was in charge of creating legislation to control the flow of immigrants, or if its aims were to physically patrol the border and keep migrants out through force. After listening to his presentation about his job, I was able to completely understand his role in preventing illegal immigration.
In addition, it really struck me about his job how dedicated, unemotional, and patriotic one must be in order to be successful. I found it incredibly interesting that while he is a representative of an organization that is obviously anti-immigrant, he felt compassion and sympathy towards the border crossers. Despite feeling this way, he had to fulfill his duty to his employers and to his country of keeping such immigrants from crossing. I found it commendable that although his obvious biases, he was able to examine the opposite side of the argument and express those conflicting feelings of having to do his job but having his human instinct be to help out the people in need who he encounters.
This internal conflict really embodies the controversy of border patrol, and brings up the issue of maintaining the balance between compassion and protecting the status of the state. I found that Agent Moffitt's mentioning of this conflict was the most interesting part of his visitation, as it just emphasizes how the issue of immigration is not easily remedied because both sides are compelling, and multi-faceted. Although Agent Moffitt was a biased representative of the whole issue, I felt as though his talk was very effective due to the fact that he covered many aspects of the border patrol, not only just explaining the details of his day to day work, but also addressing the larger underlying issues behind illegal immigration.