Operation Gatekeeper: The Rise of the “Illegal Alien” and the Remaking of the U.S. – Mexico Boundary

By 1994 American anti-immigration rhetoric had reached a fevered pitch, and throngs of migrants entered the U.S. nightly. In response, the INS launched "Operation Gatekeeper," the centerpiece of the Clinton administration's unprecedented effort to "regain control" of our borders. In Operation Gatekeeper, Joseph Nevins details the administration's dramatic overhaul of the San Diego-Tijauna border-the busiest land crossing in the world-adding miles of new fence and hundreds of trained agents.

Table of Contents:
1. Introduction 2. The Creation of the U.S.-Mexico Boundary and the Re-making of the United States and Mexico in the Border Region 3. Local Context and the Creation of Difference in the Border Region 4. The Bounding of the United States and the Emergence of Operation Gatekeeper 5. The Ideological Roots of the "Illegal": The "Other" as Threat and the Rise of the Boundary as the Symbol of Protection 6. The Effects and Significance of the Bounding of the United States 7. Nationalism, the Territorial State, and the Construction of Boundary-Related Identities 8. Conclusion: Searching for Security in an Age of Intensifying Globalization APPENDIX A Map: The U.S.-Mexico Borderlands in Southern California APPENDIX B Map: Mexico and the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands APPENDIX C Map: The Territorial Expansion of the United States APPENDIX D Map: The Remaking of the U.S.-Mexico Boundary APPENDIX E Chronology of Selected U.S. Immigration and Boundary-related Legislation and Developments APPENDIX F Table of number of Border Patrol Agents nationally Fiscal Year (FY) 1925 FY2000; chart displaying change in number of Border Patrol Agents nationally FY1925-FY1973; and chart displaying change in number of Border Patrol Agents nationally FY1925-FY2000. APPENDIX G Cover from December 1974 issue of The American Legion magazine BIBLIOGRAPHY

About the Author :
Joseph Nevins is an accomplished journalist whose work has appeared in The Nation, The Progressive, The Washington Post, and The Los Angeles Times. He currently teaches at the University of California, Berkeley Mike Davis is a contributing editor to The Nation and Professor of History at SUNY Stony Brook. He is the author of four books, including Magical Urbanism and City of Quartz.

Review :
..."an exaustively researched and well-organized compendium of information on the history and making of the Mexico-U.S boundary...The book's strength lies in its conceptual emphasis on immigration policy as a political-economic process rooted in deep-seated sociocultural agendas that materialize across time and space. [This] book will be helpful in bringing the illegal immigration debate into the larger discourse about globalization and the post 9/11 future of the Mexico-U.S border." -International Migration Review, Vol. 36, No. 4 Winter 2002 "Nevins' research is highly original...skillfully introduces academic material within a compelling narrative. The ideas are fresh, the scholarly debates are fully engaged, and the storyline never lags." -Annals of the Association of American Geographers "Bill Clinton launched Operation Gatekeeper in 1994....Nevins demonstrates how this politcally motivated policy failed to significantly reduce unauthorized border crossings." -Foreign Affairs ..."a richly descriptive historical volume about the US Border Patrol strategy to enhance the enforcement of boundaries since 1994." -"Choice "Nevins meticulously deconstructs this political, and above all, human phenomenon in a thorough and penetrating text. "Operation Gatekeeper could not be more timely: literally, there are lives on the line." -Ruben Martinez, author of "Crossing Over: A Mexican Family on the Migrant Trail