The Dangerous Divide: Peril and Promise on the US-Mexico Border

Winner!Best of Political/Current Affairs by the 2015 International Latino Book Awards. America's legendary border with Mexico is now a frontier of fear. Veteran journalist Peter Eichstaedt roams this fabled region from Tucson, Arizona, to El Paso, Texas. He meets with migrants, border security advocates, and communities ravaged by cross-border crime. He rides with the U.S. border patrol. He finds desperate migrants trapped in a world of predatory human smugglers and border security agents. Thousands of border agents and billions of dollars does not stem the tide of one million Mexicans and Central Americans, who cross the border each year. These migrants fill jobs that have become the underpinnings of the U.S. economy. Eichstaedt argues that the U.S. must reform its immigration and drug laws now. America must admit that costly, counterproductive, and antiquated policies have created a deadly situation on both sides of the border. America needs to recognize and legitimize the contributions made by Latin migrants to the its way of life.