Border Sheriff—and MET Criminal Justice Vet—Offers Fresh Ways to Consider Proposed Mexican Wall
Arizona Sheriff Mark Napier (MET ’04) knows his way around the Mexican border. After all, the law-enforcement officer and coordinator of Metropolitan College’s top-ranked online Master of Criminal Justice program is tasked with policing a 125 mile stretch of the international boundary, giving him unique perspective on the challenges facing the immigration hotbed.
Elected sheriff of Arizona’s Pima County in November, Napier spoke with the BBC’s Eddie Mair to offer insight into President Donald J. Trump’s proposed boundary wall along the U.S./Mexican border.
“I think ‘the wall’ as a term is analogous to a lot of things,” he explained. “We talk, in this country, a lot about a traditional wall, meaning bricks and mortar or some sort of physical barrier, and there are places on the border that simply do not lend themselves to what we would categorize as a traditional wall,” he added, citing topographical and structural concerns.
“So I think when we speak of a wall, we need to think of it as an analogous term to meaning, potentially, human resources, technology, and where appropriate, physical borders,” Napier said.
For more, tune into the BBC.