Title Clandestine crossings : migrants and coyotes on the Texas-Mexico border / David Spener

Published Ithaca : Cornell University Press, 2009

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Description 1 online resource (xiv, 298 pages) : illustrations, maps Contents The unfolding of apartheid in South Texas : domination, resistance, and migration -- Clandestine crossing at the beginning of the twenty-first century : the long march through the brush country -- Coyotaje as a cultural practice applied to migration -- Coyotaje and migration in the contemporary period -- Trust, distrust, and power : the social embeddedness of coyote-assisted border-crossings -- Passing judgment : coyotes in the discourse of clandestine border-crossing Summary Clandestine Crossings delivers an in-depth description and analysis of the experiences of working-class Mexican migrants at the beginning of the twenty-first century as they enter the United States surreptitiously with the help of paid guides known as coyotes. Drawing on ethnographic observations of crossing conditions in the borderlands of South Texas, as well as interviews with migrants, coyotes, and border officials, Spener details how migrants and coyotes work together to evade apprehension by U.S. law enforcement authorities as they cross the border. In so doing, he seeks to dispel many of the myths that misinform public debate about undocumented immigration to the United States. The hiring of a coyote, Spener argues, is one of the principal strategies that Mexican migrants have developed in response to intensified U.S. border enforcement. Although this strategy is typically portrayed in the press as a sinister organized-crime phenomenon, Spener argues that it is better understood as the resistance of working-class Mexicans to an economic model and set of immigration policies in North America that increasingly resemble an apartheid system. In the absence of adequate employment opportunities in Mexico and legal mechanisms for them to work in the United States, migrants and coyotes draw on their social connections and cultural knowledge to stage successful border crossings in spite of the ever greater dangers placed in their path by government authorities Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index Notes Print version record Subject Border crossing -- Mexican-American Border Region Human smuggling -- Mexican-American Border Region Noncitizens -- Mexican-American Border Region Immigrants -- Mexican-American Border Region Illegal immigration -- Mexican-American Border Region Noncitizens. Undocumented Immigrants SOCIAL SCIENCE -- Emigration & Immigration. Illegal immigration Border crossing Emigration and immigration -- Social aspects Human smuggling Noncitizens Immigrants Social conditions Noncitizens. Mexican-American Border Region -- Social conditions Mexico -- Emigration and immigration -- Social aspects Texas -- Emigration and immigration -- Social aspects United States -- Emigration and immigration -- Social aspects Mexico North America -- Mexican-American Border Region Texas United States Form Electronic book ISBN 0801460395 9780801460395

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