U.S.- Mexico Border

By 1994 American anti-immigration rhetoric had reached a fevered pitch, and throngs of migrants entered the U.S. nightly. In response, the INS launched "Operation Gatekeeper," the centerpiece of the Clinton administration's unprecedented effort to "regain control" of their borders. In Operation Gatekeeper , Joseph Nevins details the administration's dramatic overhaul of the San Diego - Tijauna border - the busiest land crossing in the world-adding miles of new fence and hundreds of trained agents.

On the Rim of Mexico addresses the ties & asymmetries across the Mexico-U.S. border, from Tijuana/San Diego to Matamoros/Brownsville. Based on author Ramon Ruiz's extensive travels, remembrances, & first-hand interviews with the people of the Mexican side, the book probes the history, economics, & customs which have shaped this region today. While the author considers many timely issues: the impact of drug trafficking, legal & illegal immigration, assembly plants & the global economy, & the ecological disaster in the making, the book is also an examination of the borderlands themselves: what they are, how they came to be, & salient aspects of life in this region of the world. Moreover, it is an exploration of binational themes. For Mexicans who live & die next door to the almighty Uncle Sam, nearly everything has a binational ring-even personal identity. On the Rim of Mexico is a moving portrait of the people, places, & issues which make-up border life today.

In one of the hottest, loneliest spots on earth, John Annerino hooked up with four Mexican nationals determined to cross the border illegally. Their choice was simple: risk their lives crossing the desert for a poorly paid job in El Norte or stay in Mexico and watch their families starve. Annerino and his companions would have died in that vast, unforgiving land had they not shared the water they had and helped one another with the encouragement that seemed pointless at the time. Dead in Their Tracks is the true story of a desperate human struggle in a bleak, beautiful wilderness.

Loustaunau and Sanchez-Bane combine their many years of association and collaboration dealing with health issues of the U.S.-Mexico border area, to bring together a series of chapters illustrating that asi es la vida, "that's life," need not indicate a fatalistic acceptance that poverty, sickness, misery, and misfortune must be taken in stride. Focusing on specific problems of employment, education, drug addiction, violence, healthcare and women's issues, the chapters in this book encourage greater understanding of the U.S.-Mexico border. The contributors have researched, studied, worked with, or have been borderlanders themselves.