Let's Talk About Your Wall: Mexican Writers Respond to the Immigration Crisis

by Carmen Boullosa (Editor), Alberto Quintero (Editor)

Major writers from Mexico weigh in on U.S. immigration policy, from harrowing migrant journeys to immigrant detention to the life beyond the wall

Despite the extensive coverage in the U.S. media of the southern border and Donald Trump’s proposed wall, most English speakers have had little access to the multitude of perspectives from Mexico on the ongoing crisis. Celebrated novelist Carmen Boullosa (author of Texas and Before) and Alberto Quintero redress this imbalance with this collection of essays—translated into English for the first time—drawing on writing by journalists, novelists, and documentary-makers who are Mexican or based in Mexico. Contributors include the award-winning author Valeria Luiselli, whose Tell Me How It Ends is the go-to book on the child migrant crisis, and the novelist Yuri Herrera, author of the highly acclaimed Signs Preceding the End of the World.

Let’s Talk About Your Wall uses Trump’s wall as a starting point to discuss important questions, including the history of U.S.-Mexican relations, and questions of sovereignty, citizenship, and borders. An essential resource for anyone seeking to form a well-grounded opinion on one of the central issues of our day, Let’s Talk About Your Wall provides a fierce and compelling counterpoint to the racist bigotry and irrational fear that consumes the debate over immigration, and a powerful symbol of opposition to exclusion and hate.

Genres: Politics, Nonfiction, Essays, Sociology, Social Issues, Anthologies

287 pages, ebook

First published October 27, 2020

About the author

Carmen Boullosa (b. September 4, 1954 in Mexico City, Mexico) is a leading Mexican poet, novelist and playwright. Her work is eclectic and difficult to categorize, but it generally focuses on the issues of feminism and gender roles within a Latin American context. Her work has been praised by a number of prominent writers, including Carlos Fuentes, Alma Guillermoprieto and Elena Poniatowska, as well as publications such as Publishers Weekly. She has won a number of awards for her works, and has taught at universities such as Georgetown University, Columbia University and New York University (NYU), as well as at universities in nearly a dozen other countries. She is currently Distinguished Lecturer at the City College of New York. She has two children -- Maria Aura and Juan Aura -- with her former partner, Alejandro Aura --and is now married to Mike Wallace, the Pulitzer Prize–winning co-author of Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898.

(from Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Migdalia Jimenez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Told from the perspective of Mexican writers, this collections of essays is massively important to understand the so-called crisis at the border. Each essay was a world of its own, tackling the subject from a different angle, but all of them explored the border deeply and asked readers to think critically about the border and to recognize the humanity of the migrants & refugees who are stuck on either side.

Highly recommended for anyone interested in Mexico/US relations, Central America, and human rights, or well done essay collections.

[Shannon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This should be required reading. The series of essays sheds light on the reality behind the myths of the wall, what it means, and what it promises. A denial of human rights from refugees fleeing deadly situations back home (we Americans flinch from the reminders that we once turned away Jews from Nazi-driven Europe, and yet...); blaming Mexicans for the lack of work, even though they contribute vastly to the workforce; the rife, hostile presence of xenophobia and racism towards brown skin and Spanish language; the politics of division and halting migration (on BOTH sides of the Mexican border)--the narrative of human history, as each person on the planet can trace their position to a migration, theirs or an ancestor's. Eloquent, intelligent, sometimes heartrending, each essay offers a different angle of the dire situation that this wall presents, and though the President championing the wall is no longer in office, the ideologies he embedded in the discourse of the past four years are still taking roots. It's time for everyone to reassess and look at this from an accurate and, most important, human angle.

[Nuha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to The New Press and NetGalley for the Reader's Copy!

Now available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble and Indie Bookstore.

A mix of political science, history, editorial and creative nonfiction, "Let's Talk About Your Wall" is an interesting collection that focuses on the Mexican-American border wall from the Mexican and Mexican American perspective. The essays are thought provoking, emotive and scathing in their collective disapproval of the wall as well as eye-opening on the impact of the wall in ways big and small. For example, one essay might focus on the Honduran ghettos in Mexico created by the caravan while others talk more broadly about the concept of rape in the history between the United States and Mexico. While I greatly appreciated reading this collection, one of the things that makes discussing migration so difficult is that the situation is constantly evolving. No longer has the author's pen dried on the page and a new policy has popped up. It would be interesting to see a follow up to this piece now after COVID19 pandemic as well as the news report on forced sterilizations in the Georgia ICE Detention facility.

[Monika Schrock · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read for anyone who actually cares about grace filled living and treating all people as people.

[Gemini · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are so many stories being told from people from various places that it's really interesting to see the challenges being faced. Some of these stories are simply heartbreaking, you just can't help but wonder how they even survived. Knowing that the people who are vying for a better life ended up leaving family & friends behind to try to get to a better place to only have the door slammed in their face. The hurdles, red tape, trauma they all went through is simply horrifying. You just can't help but wonder how this happened. This wall that has been there for decades is one of the stupidest things along w/ expanding it. People don't realize what a difference immigrants make to countries such as the US, & w/out them you would have no food or clothing, to say the least. They take the crappy jobs for crappy pay & they get exploited on top of it. The coyotes who prey on them, especially women are also horrible people who abuse & exploit those they are pretending to help across the border. The people who were lucky enough to get across then ended up in cages. Actual cages, which essentially ended up being as bad as the turmoil back home & their trek across the desert/river. This is one of the most inhumane things that has been happening for years & years. The policies & the made up borders are pure ridiculousness. This book really opens your eyes to all they have gone through.

[Jason Morris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh how I wish many, many Americans would read this collection (or a handful) of these insightful essays from Mexican writers. Having lived and served in Mexico for two years I have an affection for the Mexican people. We can all learn from the perspectives of others. Here, the essayists cite many historical precedents where the US was hostile to prior immigrants - Europeans, Asians, etc.
Multiple essays note the fact that the US footprint is comprised of a large portion of Mexico. By force and threats, the US took much of the Western states from Mexico. Revisionist historians could not objectively argue there was a bargained for meeting of the minds between the two states.
The ‘wall’ has become a convenient trope to express previously hidden xenophobia and racism. There must be a more humane and thoughtful manner to work on immigration reform.

[Frances · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent collection of essays including one by Valeria Luiselli, whose book Lost Children Archive, I'd read previously. I particularly like the essay by Jhonni Carr and Roman Lujan, suggesting those for whom Spanish is not the first language should look for opportunities to speak Spanish in public.

[Ryan Miller · Rating 3 out of 5]

Perhaps I’m not the right audience, in that I agree with what these authors write and I had read of most of the ideas before picking up the book. I would recommend it as a scholarly examination of the Mexico-U.S. border written from Mexican points of view.

[Nick Sorrentino · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's fine but was definitely a book written in the context of 2016 and that election. Loses a bit of it's punch reading it in 2025