A Geographer Explores a More Humane Path to Border Enforcement

Public information campaigns may lessen the need for traditional border enforcement seen above: at left, a National Guardsman stands ready at the southwest U.S. border; at right, a migrant boat being intercepted by an Australian Navy ship near Australia's Christmas Island (photo by Kate Coddington).

There is no more contentious issue globally among national political parties and the general public than border enforcement, centering today on construction of physical barriers, militarization of border zones and arrests of illegal immigrants.

But Kate Coddington, assistant professor of Geography & Planning, and a colleague from the University of Arizona are examining the effectiveness of a less expensive and less controversial method of regulating transnational migration: the public information campaign, or PIC.