Up Against the Wall

Peter Laufer, PhD holds the inaugural James Wallace Chair in Journalism at the University of Oregon School of Journalism and Communication where he was awarded the Marshall Prize for teaching innovation. A former and longtime global correspondent for NBC News, Laufer reports on borders, identities and migration. He has covered the requisite wars and earthquakes, coups and elections.

• Preface, Bienvenidos, Amigos; Foreword, by Former President of Mexico Vicente Fox; Chapter 1, Up Against the Wall, (Expletive); Chapter 2, Illegal Alien or Clever New American; Chapter 3, Still Life on the Border; Chapter 4, On Guard; Chapter 5, Death along for the Ride; Chapter 6, A Weary Lawyer’s View; Chapter 7, What Is a Border?; Chapter 8, Failed Borders; Chapter 9, U.S. Annexation of Half of Mexico; Chapter 10, Early Border Control; Chapter 11, The Historical Failure of Border Control; Chapter 12, The Vigilante Movement; Chapter 13, Americans Party South, Mexicans Struggle North; Chapter 14, The Porous, Shifting Border; Chapter 15, Illegal Americans; Chapter 16, On the Kentucky-Mexican Border; Chapter 17, Deportation Made Easier; Chapter 18, One Farmer Working by the Rules; Chapter 19, Who Wants the Border Closed?; Chapter 20, Burden or Benefit?; Chapter 21, The Long Road North from Chiapas and Chihuahua; Chapter 22, No Amigos in the White House; Epilogue, A Practical Blueprint for Normalizing the U.S.-Mexico Border; Index.

"I love this book. Up Against the Wall is an extraordinary contribution to the Mexican immigration debate. It's a journey to a reality that we look at every day in this country but do not see. The United States has a historic opportunity to solve this problem now, avoiding worse consequences in the future." —Rosental Alves, director of the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas, University of Texas