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

by Peter Laufer

Book Overview

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... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1566636701
• ISBN13: 9781566636704
• Release Date: August 2006
• Publisher: Ivan R. Dee Publisher
• Length: 265 Pages
• Weight: 0.96 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.8" x 8.8"

Customer Reviews

We should welcome our Mexican family members, we owe them.

Before reading "Wetback Nation," I read "The Annexation of Mexico" by John Ross which describes the long-history of detrimental US intervention in Mexico's affairs. If not for the greed of US elites and the thievery of its corporations, Mexicans would not be economic refugees. Since policies emanating from Wall Street and the Pentagon have so much to do with the desperation of Mexican people, we should welcome them, and even offer an apology for the generations of exploitation we've inflicted upon them (on top of stealing half of their country in 1848 during a war that Abraham Lincoln called one of the "most unjust wars by a stronger against a weaker nation"). Instead of demonizing and scapegoating immigrants, we should join with them in solidarity against the neoliberal economic policies that are harming working people and the environment all over the world. Citizen groups like "Global Exchange," "Madre," and "Border Links" have much more to offer in terms of solutions than the John Wayne wanna-bes of the Minute Man variety. The war against immigrants, like most wars, is a racket. Boeing will be receiving tons of corporate welfare to build the fence that is going to be a cash cow for the makers of the drones, surveillance cameras, motion detectors, and the other equipment of a growing police state that may someday be turned against the domestic population. We should also cast a skeptical eye upon corruptible politicians and radio hosts who are shrieking about an "invasion." Investment firms like Lehman Brothers and executives at Halliburton are profiting handsomely from the prison industrial complex and need demagogues like Tom Tancredo (who had work done on his basement by undocumented human beings) to criminalize people who are actually our brothers and sisters who are doing exactly what we'd be doing if we were in their shoes. We often claim to be a Christian nation, so let's show some of the compassion the faith demands, and do unto others as we'd have others do unto us. After all, plenty of US citizens go to Mexico for tourism (including sex tourism), or to learn Spanish, or to get health care in places like Baja California, or to retire in places like San Miguel de Allende, etc. If we are constantly belligerent to Mexicans who come here, we may be creating a "blowback" for US citizens who travel south. Lastly, please visit the site of the "School of the Americas Watch" which documents the long history of Pentagon terrorism towards the people of Latin America; this is in addition to the misery of overthrows and assorted CIA wickedness, and the catastrophes caused by the "economic hit men" of the corporate aristocracy. We should be hanging our heads in shame over how Anglos have been invading the "third world." The least we could is show some kindness and compassion.

Discusses the Mexican immigration process in depth

The border between the U.S. and Mexico has long been a separation of cultures, a sign of frustration between two countries, and a symbol of illegal entry: Peter Laufer's Wetback Nation: The Case For Opening The Mexican-American Border offers a surprisingly different viewpoint, arguing for the free movement of Mexicans back and forth across the border rather than increased border restrictions. Free movements would end abuse of Mexican workers needed by the US economy and would make it easier for the U.S. to enforce restrictions against those it wishes to deny entry to: Wetback Nation discusses the Mexican immigration process in depth in the course of its argument, making it one of the more unusual - and important - surveys of Mexican relations and immigration standards to appear in modern times.