The right to stay home : how US policy drives Mexican migration /

This book details the difficult life faced by Mexican immigrants to the US and by poor Mexicans in their native country. Brief "narratives" (interviews with workers) are interspersed, and offer a valuable firsthand account of the struggles that these groups face. Some chapters describe organizing efforts that cross the US-Mexican border. The book is at least in part a collection of articles previously written by Bacon. The degree of new material is difficult to gauge, because nowhere is it acknowledged that the book uses material previously published elsewhere. The theme ostensibly tying the chapters together is the argument that workers have a right not to migrate, but the title seems the product of an ex post facto effort to find a common theme for the writings. While there could be interesting things written about a right not to migrate, the idea is not addressed in any meaningful fashion here. Nor will readers find any serious discussion of economics, although economic factors are central to the plight of the workers discussed. This is advocacy journalism (which, to his credit, Bacon acknowledges), not scholarship. Summing Up: Optional. All readership levels. A. L. Aoki Augsburg College

Bacon (Illegal People), a labor organizer, immigrant-rights activist, and journalist, describes the factors that drive Mexican migrants across the border and into the U.S. These include the economic effects of NAFTA, environmental degradation, health hazards, anti-union policies, and, above all, low wages and poverty. As Bacon notes, 95% of the jobs created in Mexico in 2010 pay around $10 per day. He also examines the harsh conditions many Mexican migrants face in the U.S., such as the criminalization of undocumented immigration (whereas previously, undocumented immigrants were allowed to return to Mexico voluntarily) and the economic exploitation of short-term agricultural "guest" workers. By providing billions in remittances to Mexico while increasing U.S. corporations' profits, Mexican migrants serve the interests of both countries, Bacon observes. In a concluding chapter, he offers a number of ideas for reform, including giving migrant workers green cards instead of work-based visas and renegotiating trade agreements to eliminate the causes of Mexican workers' displacement. Bacon's book, which is enhanced by 11 personal narratives, will help readers gain a significantly more sophisticated understanding of the context and on-the-ground reality of undocumented migrants in the U.S. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Compelling examination of Mexican immigration to the United States, both legal and illegal. Since the 1990s and the implementation of NAFTA, writes Bacon (Illegal People: How Globalization Creates Migration and Criminalizes Immigrants, 2008, etc.), the rural poverty rate in Mexico has risen to as high as 55 percent, with close to 13 million Mexicans living and working in the U.S. Such numbers indicate that looking to the U.S. for work and survival is not a choice but a necessity; "poverty," writes the author, "is the real recruiter." As foreign corporations, especially American, come to dominate the Mexican economy, Mexican unemployment has continued to soar. Small, sustainable agriculture has been unable to compete with foreign-owned agribusiness, and in the industrial sector, progressive unions have been crushed by a Mexican government all too eager to acquiesce to corporate needs, leaving hundreds of thousands unemployed. On the other side of the border, Mexican workers find increasing hostility to their presence, with ever-more-draconian measures against those here illegally and harsh exploitation of those her legally. But Bacon's study is more than an account of the conditions that create such a situation. He also reports on resistance to this situation, from massive demonstrations in Mexico to union-organizing efforts of Mexican workers in the U.S. to cross-border coalitions among labor, African-American and other minorities, Mexican workers, and even the Occupy movement. In addition, he provides chapters in which Mexican migr workers speak directly about their experiences and ordeals. At times, Bacon's narrative becomes overly detailed and thus difficult to follow, yet his overall theme is clear: Immigration reform means reform of an economic system that benefits corporations and forces Mexican workers to leave home. An important contribution to the current immigration debate.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.