Beyond Smoke and Mirrors: Mexican Immigration in an Era of Economic Integration
by Douglas S. Massey

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Book Reviews of Beyond Smoke and Mirrors: Mexican Immigration in an Era of Economic Integration

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Summary: 5 Stars

Summary of Beyond Smoke and Mirrors: Mexican Immigration in an Era of Economic Integration

The costs of the U.S. policy 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 show 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.

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 and minimize costs and disruptions for the United States. Beyond Smoke and Mirrors 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.

Economic Conditions Books

• Business & Investing > Economics
• International > Economic Conditions
• Nonfiction > Government > Public Policy
• Social Sciences > Emigration & Immigration
• Sociology > General