Bunkobons

← All books

Cover of Managed Migrations: Growers, Farmworkers, and Border Enforcement in the Twentieth Century

Managed Migrations: Growers, Farmworkers, and Border Enforcement in the Twentieth Century

by Cristina Salinas

Buy on Amazon

Needed at one moment, scorned at others, Mexican agricultural workers have moved back and forth across the US–Mexico border for the past century. In South Texas, Anglo growers’ dreams of creating a modern agricultural empire depended on continuous access to Mexican workers. While this access was officially regulated by immigration laws and policy promulgated in Washington, DC, in practice the migration of Mexican labor involved daily, on-the-ground negotiations among growers, workers, and the US Border Patrol. In a very real sense, these groups set the parameters of border enforcement policy. Managed Migrations examines the relationship between immigration laws and policy and the agricultural labor relations of growers and workers in South Texas and El Paso during the 1940s and 1950s.…

Recommended by

Mireya Loza
"Cristina Salinas takes us to one of the most interesting states to study migrant workers, Texas. She examines how growers work within a matrix of federal, state, and local power and unpacks how all of these forces shape the movement and lives of migrant workers. The book lets us see moments where the daily decisions of Border Patrol don’t uphold immigration law but instead serve the interests of growers. It’s an essential read if you want to understand how workers are managed by national (Mexico and US), state, and local actors."
Migrant Workers · fivebooks.com