Altamira Press The Immigration Crisis: Nativism, Armed Vigilantism, and the Rise of a Countervailing Movement

Product Description Immigration remains one of the most pressing and polarizing issues in the United States. In The Immigration Crisis, the political scientist and social activist Armando Navarro takes a hard look at 400 years of immigration into the territories that now form the United States, paying particular attention to the ways in which immigrants have been received. The book provides a political, historical, and theoretical examination of the laws, personalities, organizations, events, and demographics that have shaped four centuries of immigration and led to the widespread social crisis that today divides citizens, non-citizens, regions, and political parties. As a prominent activist, Navarro has participated broadly in the Mexican-American community's responses to the problems of immigration and integration, and his book also provides a powerful glimpse into the actual working of Hispanic social movements. In a sobering conclusion, Navarro argues that the immigration crisis is inextricably linked to the globalization of capital and the American economy's dependence on cheap labor. Review Navarro skillfully captures the tensions caused by the changing America....The book's greatest value is its encyclopedic quality. It will be reference by scholars of Chicano/a studies and the growing field of immigration studies.--Western Historical Quarterly, Fall 2010 Navarro's lifetime activist experience in Chicano/Latino right movements enlivens the text with rare insight, personal reflections, and primary source material from his own meeting notes. Recommended.--CHOICE, November 2009 Armando Navarro has written a most needed and valuable study of the historical origins of Mexican migration to the United States and its continuing importance. This is a must-read for both concerned citizens and policy makers.--Mario T. Garcia, University of California at Santa Barbara; author of Desert Immigrants: The Mexicans of El Paso, 1880-1920 About the Author Armando Navarro is a political scientist and professor of ethnic studies at the University of California, Riverside. He has three decades of experience in community organizing and advocacy, dealing with local, state, national, and international social justice issues that affect Latinos. His previous books include Mexicano Political Experience in Occupied AztlOn,La Raza Unida Party, and The Cristal Experiment.