Migra!: A History of the U.S. Border Patrolvolume 29

This is the untold history of the United States Border Patrol from its beginnings in 1924 as a small peripheral outfit to its emergence as a large professional police force. To tell this story, Kelly Lytle Hernand#225;ndez dug through a gold mine of lost and unseen records stored in garages, closets, an abandoned factory, and in U.S. and Mexican archives. Focusing on the daily challenges of policing the borderlands and bringing to light unexpected partners and forgotten dynamics, Migra! reveals how the U.S. Border Patrol translated the mandate for comprehensive migration control into a project of policing Mexicans in the U.S.-Mexico borderlands.

and#8220;If you had to choose one book as a starting place for an intelligent discussion about immigration issues, you would do well to begin with Migra! by UCLA assistant professor of history Kelly Lytle Hernandez. [It] is surprisingly complex and nuanced.and#8221;

and#8220;A Useful resource for any scholar seeking to understand the complex dynamics of race, migration, and law in the twentieth century.and#8221;

and#8220;Hernandez offers well-documented accounts and analysis that bring considerable value to obtaining a resolution to the problem.and#8221;

and#8220;Migra! stands as a major contribution, successfully revising our understanding of border policing.and#8221;

and#8220;Migra! is undoubtedly a valuable book, especially as a storehouse of information and as an introduction to a new, international perspective on American immigration. Sections of it will undoubtedly become the foundations of research that will continue to broader our understanding many years into the future.and#8221;

“An interesting and valuable book.” Eric Vaughn Meeks - Journal Of American History

and#8220;A thorough and substantive study of the United States Border Patrol, or la migra in colloquial Spanish.and#8221;

and#8220;A meticulously researched. interesting, and enjoyable book.and#8221;

and#8220;An interesting and valuable book.and#8221;

Political awareness of the tensions in U.S.-Mexico relations is rising in the twenty-first century; the American history of its treatment of illegal immigrants represents a massive failure of the promises of the American dream. This is the untold history of the United States Border Patrol from its beginnings in 1924 as a small peripheral outfit to its emergence as a large professional police force that continuously draws intense scrutiny and denunciations from political activism groups. To tell this story, Kelly Lytle Hern ndez dug through a gold mine of lost and unseen records and bits of biography stored in garages, closets, an abandoned factory, and in U.S. and Mexican archives. Focusing on the daily challenges of policing the Mexican border and bringing to light unexpected partners and forgotten dynamics, Migra reveals how the U.S. Border Patrol translated the mandate for comprehensive migration control into a project of policing immigrants and undocumented "aliens" in the U.S.-Mexico borderlands.

and#147;Migra! is the first and only substantive history of the U.S. Border Patrol. Hernandez breaks new ground in this deeply researched account of its formation and development.and#8221;and#151;George Sanchez, author of Becoming Mexican American: Ethnicity, Culture and Identity in Chicano Los Angeles, 1900-1945

Kelly Lytle Hernand#225;ndez is Assistant Professor in the Department of History and Associate Director of the Chicano Studies Research Center at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Contents

List of Illustrations

Acknowledgments

Map of the U.S.-Mexico Border Region

Introduction

Part One: Formation

1. The Early Years of the U.S. Border Patrol

2. A Sanctuary of Violence: The U.S. Border Patrol in the Greater Texas-Mexico Borderlands

3. The California-Arizona Borderlands

4. Mexicoand#8217;s Labor Emigrants, Americaand#8217;s Illegal Immigrants: The Rise of Mexican Emigration Control

Part Two: Transformation

5. A New Beginning: World War II and the U.S. Border Patrol

6. The Corridors of Migration Control

7. Uprising: A Farmersand#8217; Rebellion

Part Three: Operation Wetback and Beyond

8. The Triumphs of {apos}54

9. and#147;The Day of the Wetback Is Overand#8221;: Migration Control and Crime Control in the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands

Epilogue

Notes

Selected Bibliography

Index