First published 2010
The U.S. Border Patrol began in 1924 as a small, overlooked agency tasked with monitoring the Mexican border. MacArthur Fellow Kelly Lytle Hernández chronicles how this modest operation transformed into a powerful law enforcement organization that shapes immigration policy today. She argues that America's approach to border control reflects broader failures in delivering on the promise of opportunity for all. Drawing from previously hidden documents discovered in garages, closets, an abandoned factory, and archives across both countries, Hernández reconstructs the daily realities of border policing. Her research reveals unexpected alliances and overlooked forces that influenced how agents carried out their duties. The book examines how the Border Patrol interpreted its mission of migration control, ultimately focusing enforcement efforts on policing immigrants and undocumented individuals throughout the borderlands region. This hidden history illuminates the roots of contemporary immigration debates.
Genres: history, politics, non-fiction, american-history
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: hidden-history, social-commentary
Setting: Mexico, United States
Period: 20th-century, 21st-century
336 pages · Kindle Edition · University of California Press