Border Vigils: Keeping Migrants Out of the Rich World

by Jeremy Harding

Ours is an era marked by extraordinary human migrations, with some 200 million people alive today having moved from their country of origin. The political reaction in Europe and the United States has been to raise the immigrant workers are needed, but no longer welcome. So migrants die in trucks or drown en route; they are murdered in smuggling operations or ruthlessly exploited in illegal businesses that make it impossible for the abused to seek police help. More than 15,000 people have died in the last twenty years trying to circumvent European entry restrictions.

In this beautifully written book, Jeremy Harding draws haunting portraits of the migrants – and anti-immigrant zealots – he encountered in his investigations in Europe and on the US–Mexico border. Harding’s painstaking research and global perspective identify the common characteristics of immigration policy across the rich world and raise pressing questions about the future of national boundaries and universal values.

Genres: Politics, Nonfiction, Journalism

176 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2012

Reviews

[Leif · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you're interested in a good, informative book that contextualizes the contemporary "crisis" in migration within recent history, this is the book for you. The initial chapters are strongest and represent Harding's journalism best; later chapters tend to wander, unmoored by a governing thesis. It is this lack that hampers the book most in fact: I do not see the general case that Harding is making within the broader argument about migrants and borders – details are fleeting. Nevertheless, there are many interesting notes scattered across these pages.

[Ashton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unfortunately hard to engage with - massive chapters with no clear narrative or structure

[Christa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This presented a great mixture of interview data and hard numerical data. I always find studies of this type to be more effective in their arguments as it's harder to refute something that is both qualitative and quantitative - you can't just say it's one person's view or blame ideas on emotions or a statistical anomaly.

It was also refreshing to read about borders beside the U.S.-Mexico line. Putting U.S. immigration policy into perspective through a look at the E.U. and Africa helped to make some of the laws seem a little less strange. Not to say that I think this justifies restrictive immigration measures; rather it makes us seem like we're in less of a vacuum and gives some ideas about where to go (or what to avoid) in future legislation.

[Don · Rating 5 out of 5]

I reviewed this together with Matthew Carr's 'Fortress Europe'. The article can be read on the website of Migrants' Rights Network at http://www.migrantsrights.org.uk/blog...

[Sam Worby · Rating 2 out of 5]

Seemed very out of date journalism, but some interesting migrant experiences.