Wetback Nation: The Case for Opening the Mexican-American Border

Peter Laufer's explosive proposals for the U.S.-Mexican border go far beyond President Bush's initiative to ease restrictions on immigration. Mr. Laufer argues that the border with Mexico should be completely open, with a free flow of people between the two countries. He offers a step-by-step blueprint for making it happen. Wetback Nation is also the background to understanding the Bush proposals: the story of how the border has become a fraud, resulting in nothing more than the criminalization of Mexican and other migrants, the bloating of the mismanaged Immigration and Naturalization Service, the deterioration of living standards along the frontier, and the enrichment of American employers. Placing the border in historical perspective, Mr. Laufer shows how circumstances have deteriorated to the present crisis, and why the region and the migration through it cannot be ignored. Over the last several years he has interviewed dozens of authorities as well as men and women in the street while reporting from Mexico, along the border, and in the United States. He demonstrates that the security of America's southern border is a fallacy; offers vivid examples to illustrate how the chain of misery and lawbreaking for migrants heading north is initiated by U.S. employers; traces many of the border problems to the Guatemalan-Mexican border; and explores the abuses of the Border Patrol and the growing presence of vigilantes on the American side. Wetback Nation is sure to provoke a lively debate over the future of Mexican immigration.