Build Bridges, Not Walls: A Journey to a World Without Borders

by Todd Miller

Is it possible to create a borderless world? How might it be better equipped to solve the global emergencies threatening our collective survival? Build Bridges, Not Walls is an inspiring, impassioned call to envision—and work toward—a bold new reality. "Todd Miller cuts through the facile media myths and escapes the paralyzing constraints of a political 'debate' that functions mainly to obscure the unconscionable inequalities that borders everywhere secure. In its soulfulness, its profound moral imagination, and its vision of radical solidarity, Todd Miller’s work is as indispensable as the love that so palpably guides it."— Ben Ehrenreich , author of Desert A Road Map for the End of Time "The stories of the humble people of the earth Miller documents ask us to also tear down the walls in our hearts and in our heads. What proliferates in the absence of these walls and in spite of them, Miller writes, is the natural state of things centered on kindness and compassion."— Nick Estes , author of Our History Is the Standing Rock Versus the Dakota Access Pipeline, and the Long Tradition of Indigenous Resistance By the time Todd Miller spots him, Juan Carlos has been wandering alone in a remote border region for days. Parched, hungry and disoriented, he approaches and asks for a ride. Miller's instinct is to oblige, but he Furthering an unauthorized person’s entrance into the U.S. is a federal crime. Todd Miller has been reporting from international border zones for over twenty-five years. In Build Bridges, Not Walls , he invites readers to join him on a journey that begins with the most basic of What happens to our collective humanity when the impulse to help one another is criminalized? A series of encounters—with climate refugees, members of indigenous communities, border authorities, modern-day abolitionists, scholars, visionaries, and the shape-shifting imagination of his four-year-old son—provoke a series of reflections on the ways in which nation-states create the problems that drive immigration, and how the abolition of borders could make the world a more sustainable, habitable place for all. Is it possible to imagine a borderless world? How could it emerge, and how might it be better equipped to solve the global emergencies that threaten our collective survival? Build Bridges, Not Walls is an inspiring, impassioned call to envision—and work toward—a bold new reality. Praise for Build Bridges, Not "Todd Miller’s deeply reported, empathetic writing on the American border is some of the most essential journalism being done today. As this book reveals, the militarization of our border is a simmering crisis that harms vulnerable people every day. It’s impossible to read his work without coming away changed." —Adam Conover , creator and host of Adam Ruins Everything and host of Factually! "All of Todd Miller's work is essential reading, but Build Bridges, Not Walls is his most compelling, insightful work yet."— Dean Spade , author of Mutual Building Solidarity During This Crises (And the Next) "Miller calls us to see how borders subject millions of people to violence, dehumanization, and early death. More importantly, he highlights the urgent necessity to abolish not only borders, but the nation-state itself."— A. Naomi Paik , author of Bans, Walls Raids, Understanding U.S. Immigration for the Twenty-First Century and Testimony and Redress in U.S. Prison Camps Since World War II "Todd Miller not only makes the case for tearing down the walls of Fortress America, but also for the future of the planet and humanity. The stories of the humble people of the earth he documents ask us to also tear down the walls in our hearts and in our heads. What proliferates in the absence of these walls and in spite of them, Miller writes, is the natural state of things centered on kindness and compassion."— Nick Estes , author of Our History Is the Standing Rock Versus the Dakota Access Pipeline, and the Long Tradition of Indigenous Resistance "Miller lays bare the senselessness and soullessness of the nation-state and its borders and border walls, and reimagines, in their place, a complete and total restoration, therefore redemption, of who we are, and of who we are in desperate need of becoming."— Brandon Shimoda , author of The Grave on the Wall "Miller's latest book is a personal, wide-ranging, and impassioned call for abolishing borders."— John Washington , author of The A Story of Asylum and the US-Mexican Border and Beyond "Through careful reporting and vivid personal experience, Miller illuminates the immediate need to bring people closer in an era of dehumanizing violence that is at the heart of U.S. political discourse and institutions and which has become painfully condensed in the Trump years."— Oswaldo Zavala , journalist and professor of Latin American literature and culture at the City University of New York and author of Drug Cartels Do Not Narcotrafficking and Culture in Mexico

Genres: Politics, Social Justice, Nonfiction

180 pages, Paperback

Published April 6, 2021

Reviews

[Frank Jude · Rating 5 out of 5]

Okay, I should probably be as open and transparent as possible and begin this review by saying not only do I know Todd Miller; not only is he a neighbor, and that he’s someone I have great respect and admiration for, I am actually one of the people he interviewed while researching this book and am quoted in one short section. So, if you want to cut one star from my evaluation, feel free, but I hope you’ll believe me when I say that would be a mistake.

Miller has spent the better part of his adult life studying, researching, critiquing, and educating the rest of us about border politics. His first book, 2014’s Border Patrol Nation was the first book I read about the border situation. As a New Yorker, transplanted to Arizona in 2007, I had no real sense of the actual dynamic here among those who live along the border.

That book was followed by 2017’s Storming the Wall which exposed climate change’s impact on migration and the continued militarization and proliferation of “border culture” not just here in the US, but globally. 2019’s Empire of Borders shows how the US’s borders are not limited to the ones between the US and Canada and Mexico, but reveals how the US has effectively extended its borders throughout the world, which has created a tightly knit web of enforcement against the growing numbers of the poor.

In this, his most recent book, just published by City Lights, Miller presents a rational, compassionate argument for a world without borders. Before you snicker or react defensively, a major point raised by Miller is that where we have spent huge resources of time, money, and energy building walls, we could have been addressing the conditions that lead to so many feeling so desperate that their only choice is to leave home in the first place!

Miller somehow manages to bolster his argument with hard data while also conveying, often poetically, the human and humane issues ignored by the mainstream discourse around migrants and border “security.” There is an extended passage detailing a transcendent experience a now ex-border patrol agent had though a simple intimate connection with a migrant that literally caused tears when I tried to read it to a class I am currently teaching on the Buddhist practice of The Immeasurables. The Buddha encourages us to expand our heartmind beyond our self-centered perspective in order to cultivate limitless, BOUNDLESS love, compassion, and shared joy with ALL beings. Miller describes some who have touched such love and what a world permeated with such love might look like.

I tend towards being a pessimistic person. I know the potential of humanity is truly limitless. What I tend to be pessimistic of is our collective ability to move beyond our deluded notions of separation. Miller writes inspiringly and offers a vision we can all work toward.

One would hope that the global experience of a pandemic would wake us up to the reality that there are no real, actual borders that scar this beautiful planet. The description of the brutal training Border Patrol agents go through is evidence enough that we have to be trained to be cruel; that it is literally unnatural to see others as “less than.”

The rational argument, as Miller makes it, is “Instead of spending billions on walls and the militarization of the border, if immigration restrictionists were serious about a solution – and this includes liberals who have opined that border enforcement is practical, and that anything less would invite instability – they would be thinking more about supporting movements to improve access to clean water, education, and health care and to end chronic poverty.” Of course, with a capitalism undergirded by neoliberalism, that kind of vision and motivation is severely lacking.

And yet… just today I read about regular folks in Glasgow, Scotland who spontaneously prevented the police from taking some Indian immigrants into custody. They blocked the van and the police were forced to relent and release the immigrants. Miller reminds us: “There is a world of immense beauty and love for all living beings, they say, and it is right here, in this very place, in this very moment….” And this deep truth is the truth of Mahayana Buddhism which tells us that samsara – the world of suffering and repetitive conditioned reactivity -- IS nirvana. That there is no real radical separation. Samsara is Nirvana. All that is needed is a “turning in the mind”, what the Greeks called “metanoia”. The question becomes, do we have the nerve to change our mind?

Miller shares Jacqueline Arellano’s question that was a challenge she presented at the conclusion of the 75-mile Migrant Trail Walk from the border to Tucson in June 2019: “What is it going to take? What is it going to take to gather people into a critical mass that will bring this border down?” The answer, it seems is it’s going to take a revolution! And the revolution must be that turning of the mind 180-degrees from seeing the world as samsara, to seeing the world as it is possible: nirvana.

Putting down all barriers, let your heartmind be full of love. Let it pervade all the quarters of the world so that the whole wide world, above, below, and around, is pervaded with love. Let it be sublime and beyond measure so that it abounds everywhere. --- The Buddha

Todd Miller has written a wonderful essay that in many ways distills the essence of this book. I recommend it:
https://www.thenation.com/article/soc...

[Shaun · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the first “Equalizer” movie starring Denzel Washington (great movie, btw!), the character Robert McCall oft says the line, “change your mind, change your world.” Todd Miller’s book, “Build Bridges, Not Walls” attempts that very thing: to change our minds, in order to change our world about borders and immigration and our humanity. Todd Miller’s book deftly holds up a mirror to our current sole-less system of immigration and the militarization of our border with our Mexican neighbors and shows how it truly is sans humanity and how it could be with a modicum of effort.

Much like the abolitionists in the 1850’s, Mr. Miller looks not only at the world as it is, but as the world could very easily be ... a far better place without systemic and broad soul-killing deep divisions. As the climate crisis continues to escalate we are either going to be spending more on a militarized border or the need for borders will cease to exist for our humanities’ sake.

A more timely and hope filled book does not exist at present. I had the great pleasure and distinct privilege of speaking with Todd Miller for over an hour on May 11, 2021 with the assistance of Bruce Plenk of the Second Tuesday of the Month Gentlemen’s Book Club and I rest assured in the knowledge that Mr. Miller’s intentions are sincere and well-documented and well-researched. The sad fact that just since the turn of the century our world has gone from under ten (10) “militarized” borders to over 75 in the stretch of a few years due to 9/11 and the climate crisis was and is a shocking reality. Freedom of movement is becoming non-existent which spells trouble for a culture on the brink of self-destruction. A borderless environment is inevitable if our species is to have any hope of survival in the coming decades as the climate crisis continues to deepen and strengthen the divide and our demise.

Thank you to Todd Miller for writing this timely little masterpiece, to the late Lawrence Ferlinghetti of City Lights Books for publishing it and you the gentle good readers for picking this one up with the urge to read it. It’s a great reading life with books like this and readers like you willing to risk your reputation and sanity in reading and considering this book and conversation starter. “Change your mind and change your world.” Rock on, mis Amigas and mis Amigos!

[Laurie Parsons Cantillo · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautiful extended essay imagining a world without borders and universal compassion for our fellow human beings. Todd Miller draws from his experiences and stories along the border to make his case. I dog-eared several pages that I plan to reference in my volunteer work. Thank you, Todd, for being an articulate and thoughtful voice on this important humanitarian issue.

[Yarub Khayat · Rating 5 out of 5]

هل بالإمكان تقارب البشر بدلا من الفصل بين الدول بحدود قد تضر وترسخ الضغينة؟
هل بالإمكان تخيل البلدان بلا حدود تفصل بين المجتمعات التي كانت مترابطة ومتعاونة مع بعضها ومتبادلة المنافع فيما بينها؟
هل هناك داع للنزاعات بين الدول رغم ما تسببه من غلق الحدود بينها وتعطيل مصالح البشر وقفل الأبواب في وجوههم أمام الهرب من المناطق المتضررة بسبب الصراعات أو الحروب الأهلية أو التصحر ونتائج تغير المناخ؟
ماذا يحصل لمشاعرنا الإنسانية عندما يتم تجريم من يساعد إنسانا محتاجا لذلك بسبب الحدود بين الدول؟

صدر هذا الكتاب خلال الأسبوع الأخير من شهر مارس 2021، بقلم بروفيسور أمريكي متخصص في ثقافة وأدب أمريكا اللاتينية، ناشط في مجال حقوق الإنسان، يعمل مراسلا صحفيا وأخباريا؛
يتضمن الكتاب قصصا واقعية مؤلمة شاهدها المؤلف خلال حوالي ربع قرن من التجول بين الحدود التي تفصل بين بلدان متعددة في أنحاء الدنيا، قصصا لأناس محزونين محرومين من أبسط وسائل الحياة.

افتتح المؤلف كتابه بوصف وضع رجل شاهده على الحدود بين المكسيك والولايات المتحدة الأمريكية، كان الرجل جائعا، عطشانا يكاد يهلك من الجفاف، شارد الذهن، كل ذلك نتيجة تجواله وحيدا على الحدود بين الدولتين محاولا الدخول للولايات المتحدةالأمريكية، وقد عجز المؤلف عن مساعدته وذلك تلافيا لتجريمه ومحاكمته بتهمة إدخال شخص لأمريكا بطريقة غير شرعية .. وأدرج المؤلف في كتابه تخيله لمشاعر ورد فعل إبنه ذي ال4أعوام من حصول مثل هذا الموقف في أي بلد !

خلص المؤلف في كتابه للدعوة لاستلهام تصور عالمي يحقق آماله في زوال السلبيات التي أوضحها بكتابه على الإنسان والبيئة والمجتمعات لوجود الحدود بين الدول.

الجدير بالذكر أن المؤلف صاحب نشاط أدبي متنوع ملحوظ وصدرت عدة كتب بقلمه أو بمشاركته مع آخرين، إلا أن هذا الكتاب يعتبر الرابع من تأليفه منذ العام 2012 متناولا مشكلات الحدود بالولايات المتحدة الأمريكية وسلطات وتنظيمات حمايتها (يمكن الاطلاع على عناوين كتبه في صفحته بهذا الموقع).

[Ryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Todd Miller has pulled together the threads from much of his experience living and reporting on the southern US border and synthesized it into this long essay which ultimately makes the case for not just a humane border there, but the abolition of borders and the systems that empower and necessitate them (hint: it's capitalism). It's a humane and loving look told from a man who's compassion and dedication, but also self-reflection and awareness of his own privilege have informed his worldview. It's a dense, but infinitely readable primer and treatise on his work and he does a good job of contextualizing it within the work of other writers, theologians and freedom fighters.

[Bryce · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not so much journalism like his other books, which are some of the best investigative writing about the border that I know of. Instead this one name drops like every contemporary academic activist to make a call to action against the militarized border, and to imagine a different kind of world. I appreciate his advocacy for criminality, but a lot of his other concrete ideas for how to move forward seemed to fall a little flat, like he had to use really poetic language and abstractions in order to imagine a way out of the hellish situation we're in, and doesn't leave us much real hope.

[Michelle Simoni · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good book! The antidotes are really sad but helps u understand why we need to get rid of the boarder all together . There were sections highlighting religion and love that were interesting . I am glad I read this, I think this book is more on the understanding why we should get rid of the boarder . It doesn’t go into the full history of the U.S. boarder policy so if u are wanting to learn that I would read abolish ice .

[Ami Campbell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Picked this up on a recommendation from my brother’s child, who is a social justice activist. Thought I’d might be another book I felt I “should” read and maybe I’d skim it half understanding. But from the beginning I was drawn into this beautifully written, spiritual account ,looking at borders as they relate to our humanity. Inspired, and thought provoking. Some beautiful quotes and sentiments along with the educated look at border issues from a standpoint I had never really pondered.

[Julie Bergley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting non-fiction. It really examined what borders mean, not only for those of us in the nation-states that have them, but for the indigenous peoples who's land is arbitrarily divided up by them. It was fascinating.

[Maria Elena · Rating 5 out of 5]

An insightful, thoughtful study on migration with real life solutions that require an entirely different view based on rationality as opposed to nationalism and racism

[A W · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a wonderful way to open your heart to reality. Especially in 2025.