Hard Line : Life and Death on the U.S.-Mexico Border

Rating:
Summary: A Fair Discussion of the Life-and-Death Impacts of U.S. Immi
Review: This book should be read by anyone interested in an impartial discussion of the human consequences -- namely the deaths of thousands of migrants -- of the great increase in U.S. border enforcement in the 1990s. Hard Line presents in a readable fashion the perspectives of all the groups directly affected -- from Border Patrol officers to migrants to ranchers in southern Arizona -- by Operation Gatekeeper and the varous other military-style operations designed to reduce illegal immigration from Mexico. Among other things, we learn that the expendiuture of billions of dollars has not resulted in a reduction in immigration but simply directed migrant traffic through dangerous and inclement conditions where many migrants suffer gruesome deaths as a result of the simple pursuit of the American dream.

Rating:
Summary: Engrossing
Review: This is a fascinating book about an incredibly complicated subject. Ellingwood lets the people on both sides on the border and all sides of the issue tell their stories. I don't think it is possible to be more fair or thorough or compelling in reporting on this topic. The reader that considered this a biased work must be confusing it with another book.

Rating:
Summary: Biased
Review: While there is some good (but all too brief) information presented in this book about the U.S.-Mexican border (including some interesting history of the region) and the results of the government's implementation of Operation Gatekeeper, it is mostly an account of how left-wing Americans have reacted to the border and to the operation. Overall, I found the book to be biased toward a very liberal point of view. The lefties who break the law and stoop to immigrant smuggling are portrayed in a very sympathetic light (and their party affiliations go unnoted), while the ranchers who round up immigrants on their property at gun point (possibly also breaking the law) are portrayed as overzealous, bug-eyed gun nuts (and invariably described as Republicans).

Much better (and more objective) books to read regarding this fascinating and important issue are Dead In Their Tracks, Coyotes, Crossing Over and Shadowed Lives.