Research Catalog

Details

Additional authors

1. Durand, Jorge.
2. Malone, Nolan J.

Description

1. ix, 199 pages : illustrations, maps; 24 cm

Summary

1. "Beyond Smoke and Mirrors shows how U.S. immigration policies enacted between 1986 and 1996 - largely for symbolic domestic political purposes - harm the interests of Mexico, the United States, and the people who migrate between them. The costs have been high. The book documents how the massive expansion of border enforcement has wasted billions of dollars and hundreds of lives, yet has not deterred increasing numbers of undocumented immigrants from heading north. The authors also uncover how the new policies unleashed a host of unintended consequences: a shift away from seasonal, circular migration toward permanent settlement; the creation of a black market for Mexican labor; the transformation of Mexican immigration from a regional phenomenon into a broad social movement touching every region of the country, and even the lowering of wages for legal U.S. residents. What had been a relatively open and benign labor process before 1986 was transformed into an exploitative underground system of labor coercion, one that lowered wages and working conditions of undocumented migrants, legal immigrants, and American citizens alike." "Beyond Smoke and Mirrors offers specific proposals for repairing the damage. Rather than denying the reality of labor migration, the authors recommend regularizing it and working to manage it so as to promote economic development in Mexico, minimize costs and disruptions for the United States, and maximize benefits for all concerned. This book provides an essential "user's manual" for readers seeking a historical, theoretical, and substantive understanding of how U.S. Policy on Mexican immigration evolved to its current dysfunctional state, as well as how it might be fixed."--Jacket.

Subject

1. Mexico
2. United States
3. Mexico > Foreign relations > United States
4. Außenpolitik
5. Mexicanos > Estados Unidos
6. Diplomatic relations
7. México > Relaciones internacional > Estados Unidos
8. Einwanderung
9. Mexique > Relations extérieures > États-Unis
10. Geschichte 1950-2000
11. Mexicanos en Estados Unidos
12. Immigratie
13. Emigration and immigration > Government policy
14. Mexicans > United States
15. USA
16. United States > Foreign relations > Mexico
17. United States > Emigration and immigration > Government policy
18. Mexique > Émigration et immigration > Politique gouvernementale
19. Émigration et immigration > Droit > États-Unis
20. Chicanos
21. Overheidsbeleid
22. Mexicanen
23. Mexico > Emigration and immigration > Government policy
24. Mexiko
25. Mexicains > États-Unis
26. États-Unis > Émigration et immigration > Politique gouvernementale
27. Estados Unidos > Emigración e Inmigración > Política estatal
28. États-Unis > Relations extérieures > Mexique
29. México > Emigración e Inmigración > Política estatal
30. Mexikaner
31. Emigration and immigration law > United States

Contents

1. Ghost in the Machine: Interventions in the Mexico-U.S. Immigration System -- Principles of Operation: Theories of International Migration -- System Assembly: A History of Mexico-U.S. Migration -- System Specifications: Empirical Parameters and Constants in the U.S.-Mexican Immigration System, 1965 to 1985 -- A Wrench in the Works: U.S. Immigration Policies After 1986 -- Breakdown: Failure in the Post-1986 U.S. Immigration System -- Repair Manual: U.S. Immigration Policies for a New Century.

Owning institution

1. Columbia University Libraries

Bibliography (note)

1. Includes bibliographical references (pages 183-192) and index.