Imaginary lines : border enforcement and the origins of undocumented immigration, 1882-1930 / Patrick Ettinger.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Ettinger, Patrick W.

Contributor:

Class of 1932 Fund.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Emigration and immigration.

History.

Immigration enforcement.

United States--Emigration and immigration--History--19th century.

United States.

United States--Emigration and immigration--Government policy.

Government policy.

Immigration enforcement--United States--History--19th century.

Mexico--Emigration and immigration--History--19th century.

Mexico.

Mexican-American Border Region--Emigration and immigration--History--19th century.

Mexican-American Border Region.

Noncitizens--United States--History--19th century.

Noncitizens.

Illegal immigration--United States--History--19th century.

Illegal immigration.

Noncitizens--Government policy--United States.

Illegal immigration--Government policy--United States.

Noncitizens--Government policy.

Physical Description:

xi, 244 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Austin : University of Texas Press, 2009.

Summary:

Although popularly conceived as a relatively recent phenomenon, patterns of immigrant smuggling and undocumented entry across American land borders first emerged in the late nineteenth century. Ingenious smugglers and immigrants, long and remote boundary lines, and strong push-and-pull factors created porous borders then, much as they do now.

Historian Patrick Ettinger offers the first comprehensive historical study of evolving border enforcement efforts on American land borders at the turn of the twentieth century. He traces the origins of widespread immigrant smuggling and illicit entry on the northern and southern United States borders at a time when English, Irish, Chinese, Italian, Russian, Lebanese, Japanese, Greek, and, later, Mexican migrants created various "backdoors" into the United States. No other work looks so closely at the sweeping, if often ineffectual, innovations in federal border enforcement practices designed to stem these flows.

From upstate Maine to Puget Sound, from San Diego to the Lower Rio Grande Valley in Texas, federal officials struggled to adapt national immigration policies to challenging local conditions, all the while battling wits with resourceful smugglers and determined immigrants. In effect, the period saw the simultaneous "drawing" and "erasing" of the official border, and its gradual articulation and elaboration in the midst of consistently successful efforts to undermine it.

Contents:

The menaces without : immigrant aliens and the origins of immigration restrictions

Diverted streams : discovering a permeable border, 1882-1891

Drawing the lines : blueprints for immigration enforcement on the borders, 1891-1910

Erasing the lines : immigrant ingenuity on the U.S.-Mexico border, 1895-1910

Northward bound : Mexican immigrants, migrants, and refugees at the border, 1900-1921

The sisyphean task : origins of the modern border

An imaginary line : change and continuity on the U.S.-Mexico border.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Class of 1932 Fund.

ISBN:

9780292721180

0292721188

OCLC:

317698731

Publisher Number:

99935961818