The Latino Threat: Constructing Immigrants, Citizens, and the Nation, Second Edition

News media and pundits too frequently perpetuate the notion that Latinos, particularly Mexicans, are an invading force bent on reconquering land once their own and destroying the American way of life. In this book, Leo R. Chavez contests this assumption's basic tenets, offering facts to counter the many fictions about the "Latino threat." With new discussion about anchor babies, the DREAM Act, and recent anti-immigrant legislation in Arizona and other states, this expanded second edition critically investigates the stories about recent immigrants to show how prejudices are used to malign an entire population—and to define what it means to be American.

Directly opposing ideas constructed and perpetuated by pundits and the media at large, The Latino Threat challenges the suggestion that Latino immigrants are unwilling to integrate and reveals that citizenship is not just about legal definitions, but about participation in society.

Leo R. Chavez is Professor of Anthropology at the University of California, Irvine. He is the author of Shadowed Lives: Undocumented Immigrants in American Society (1998) and Covering Immigration: Popular Images and the Politics of the Nation (2001).