Up Against the Wall. Peter Laufer

      

      Up Against the Wall

      Also by Peter Laufer

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       Organic: A Journalist’s Quest to Discover the Truth behind Food Labeling

       The Elusive State of Jefferson: A Journey through the 51st State

      Interviewing: The Oregon Method (editor)

       Slow News: A Manifesto for the Critical News Consumer

       No Animals Were Harmed: The Controversial Line between Entertainment and Abuse

       Forbidden Creatures: Inside the World of Animal Smuggling and Exotic Pets

       The Dangerous World of Butterflies: The Startling Subculture of Criminals, Collectors and Conservationists

      Neon Nevada (with Sheila Swan Laufer)

       ¡Calexico! True Lives of the Borderlands

      Hope Is a Tattered Flag (with Markos Kounalakis)

       Mission Rejected: U.S. Soldiers Who Say No to Iraq

       Exodus to Berlin: The Return of the Jews to Germany

      Highlights of a Lowlife: The Autobiography of Milan Melvin (editor)

      Shock and Awe: Responses to War (editor)

      ¡See You Later, Amigo! An American Border Tale (illustrated by Susan L. Roth)

      Made in Mexico/Hecho en México (illustrated by Susan L. Roth)

       Wireless Etiquette: A Guide to the Changing World of Instant Communication

      Safety and Security for Women Who Travel (with Sheila Swan Laufer)

       Inside Talk Radio: America’s Voice or Just Hot Air

       A Question of Consent: Innocence and Complicity in the Glen Ridge Rape Case

       Nightmare Abroad: Stories of Americans Imprisoned in Foreign Lands

       Iron Curtain Rising: A Personal Journey through the Changing Landscape of Eastern Europe

      Up Against the Wall

      THE CASE FOR OPENING THE MEXICAN-AMERICAN BORDER

      PETER LAUFER, PhD

      Anthem Press

      An imprint of Wimbledon Publishing Company

       www.anthempress.com

      This edition first published in UK and USA 2020

      by ANTHEM PRESS

      75–76 Blackfriars Road, London SE1 8HA, UK

      or PO Box 9779, London SW19 7ZG, UK

      and

      244 Madison Ave #116, New York, NY 10016, USA

      Copyright © Peter Laufer 2020

      The author asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

      All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

       British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

      A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

      Library of Congress Control Number: 2020940396

      ISBN-13: 978-1-78527-524-1 (Hbk)

      ISBN-10: 1-78527-524-0 (Hbk)

      This title is also available as an e-book.

      Photographs and maps by the author.

      para Sheila

      con aprecio profundamente

      y amor infinito

      CONTENTS

       List of Illustrations

       Preface: Bienvenidos, Amigos

       Foreword by former President of Mexico, Vicente Fox

Chapter 1.Up against the Wall (Expletive)

Chapter 2.Illegal Alien or Clever New American

Chapter 3.Still Life on the Border

Chapter 4.On Guard

Chapter 5.Death along for the Ride

Chapter 6.A Weary Lawyer’s View

       Chapter 7.What Is a Border?

       Chapter 8.Failed Borders

       Chapter 9.U.S. Annexation of Half of Mexico

       Chapter 10.Early Border Control

       Chapter 11.The Historical Failure of Border Control

       Chapter 12.The Vigilante Movement

       Chapter 13.Americans Party South, Mexicans Struggle North

       Chapter 14.The Porous, Shifting Border

       Chapter 15.Illegal Americans

       Chapter 16.On the Kentucky-Mexico Border

       Chapter 17.Deportation Made Easier

       Chapter 18. One Farmer Working by the Rules

       Chapter 19. Who Wants the Border Closed?

       Chapter 20.Burden or Benefit?

       Chapter 21. The Long Road North from Chiapas and Chihuahua

       Chapter 22.No Amigos in the White House

       Epilogue: A Practical Blueprint for Normalizing the Border

       Notes

       Acknowledgment

       About the Author

       Index

       ILLUSTRATIONS

1.1A bleak winter scene along the failed Maginot Line where upended rails were placed along the border with Germany to stop Hitler’s invading tanks. The Panzers simply went around the blockade.

1.2Modern life can be as quotidian as a bus ride alongside a two-millennia-old Roman wall in Rimini—a wall designed to protect the city from invaders that now attracts tourists.

1.3Making do—friends and family visit through the border wall at Friendship Park under the ever-watching eyes of the Border Patrol.