250 word discussion response Homeland Security (HLSS500)

Responses should be a minimum of 250 words and include direct questions. You may challenge, support or supplement another student’s answer using the terms, concepts and theories from the required readings. Also, do not be afraid to respectfully disagree where you feel appropriate; as this should be part of your analysis process at this academic level.

Respond to Amy:

In finding information that correlated to my research question of why border security is important to homeland security and if President Trump plays a role in the success of border security or downfall, I had to collect data and information from multiple resources. I know that we are supposed to pick from peer reviewed articles and scholar sources, but, I wanted to get an understanding of what homeland security does for border security through their actual website. Through their website, I was able to depict how law enforcement roles in border security alleviates the influx of immigration and drug smuggling. I was also able to depict that Infrastructure security played a major role at the borders of the United States. From here, I was able to gain my dependent variables for my research project.

With the variables determined, I researched in the APUS library and Google Scholar to gain knowledge and qualitative research being done on the border security. Through our lesson plans from week four, it states, “To write a good critical review, you will have to engage in the mental processes of analyzing (taking apart) the work–deciding what its major components are and determining how these parts (i.e., paragraphs, sections, or chapters) contribute to the work as a whole. Analyzing the work will help you focus on how and why the author makes certain points and prevent you from merely summarizing what the author says”.

With this, I looked at several articles and research proposals from different organizations that stressed the importance of infrastructure security and the increase of law enforcement. It also discussed the amount of executive orders and acts throughout the years that made changes to how our border security was designed. What I was trying to target through all this literature was to find quantitative and qualitative data that would support my hypothesis that border security is integral to homeland security as well as President Trump’s efforts had made the most impact and benefited the United States.

I found several papers, journal articles, and books that covered the importance of border security. I found a common theme that every President since 2001 has made some sort of change to the security of United States’ borders. That each year that passed, a lot of orders were being done to create a secure foundation for the country. What I found contradicting in my research was that not all research documentation pointed positive to my hypothesis. That quantitative data proved that as numbers did dwindle down in apprehensions and immigration on the borders since President Trump assumed presidency, however, the amount of effort to attempt immigration and smuggling is not obsolete. A book that I have found proved through their study that was conducted, that numbers are fluctuating and no one can be certain if the increase of attention on border security is truly benefiting the United States.

I am not afraid for my hypothesis to be wrong but I definitely need to gather more data that can support the thesis or discredit my thesis. The whole point of research is to be able to come to a solution and be content that the resolution may not be in the researcher’s favor. When I rejected some of the material that I found, it was not because it discredited my thesis, it is more because I had to ensure that the material was credible to my variables. If it went too off subject, I did not want to seem like I was reaching. It is always best to stay on track with the variables you have and ensure that your resources are focused on said variables.

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