Placed within the context of the past decade's war on terror and emergent Latino migrant movement, Reform without Justice addresses the issue of state violence against migrants in the United States. It questions what forces are driving draconian migration control policies and why it is that, despite its success in mobilizing millions, the Latino migrant movement and its allies have not been able to more successfully defend the rights of migrants. Gonzales argues that the contemporary Latino migrant movement and its allies face a dynamic form of political power that he terms "anti-migrant hegemony". This type of political power is exerted in multiple sites of power from Congress, to think tanks, talk shows and local government institutions, through which a rhetorically race neutral and common sense public policy discourse is deployed to criminalize migrants. Most insidiously anti-migrant hegemony allows for large sectors of "pro-immigrant" groups to concede to coercive immigration enforcement measures such as a militarized border wall and the expansion of immigration policing in local communities in exchange for so-called Comprehensive Immigration Reform. Given this reality, Gonzales sustains that most efforts to advance immigration reform will fail to provide justice for migrants. This is because proposed reform measures ignore the neoliberal policies driving migration and reinforce the structures of state violence used against migrants to the detriment of democracy for all. Reform without Justice concludes by discussing how Latino migrant activists - especially youth - and their allies can change this reality and help democratize the United States.
Industry Reviews
"Overall, Gonzales provides an excellent text for students of international migration, social movements, and public policy. It is a must-read for anyone concerned with the future trajectory of immigration reform, the origin and consequences of the current era of hyper-nativism, and the prospects for civil and human rights activists to demand a new way forward."--Perspectives on Politics
"A riveting and groundbreaking account of the modern battle over U.S. immigration policy. Alfonso Gonzales has not only managed to unravel the direct relationship between global capitalism and massive Latino migration to this country, he has fashioned an illuminating analysis of the internal class and racial conflicts that shaped the immigrant rights movement over the past decade - between liberal establishment groups merely seeking immigration reform and
grassroots Latino leaders of a new human rights movement."--Juan González, author of Harvest of Empire: A History of Latinos in America
"Gonzales offers a powerful, passionate indictment of the homeland security state and the bipartisan support responsible for its expansion, rebutting the 'common sense' logic that criminalizes the undocumented and sanctions their suffering and exploitation. Arguing that migrants are not only victims of state violence but also political actors and activists, Reform Without Justice testifies to the democratic possibilities of Latino politics."--Cristina
Beltrán, author of The Trouble With Unity
"In his masterful work, Gonzales asks how the United States could have arrived at a plan for comprehensive immigration reform that fails to provide justice for migrants. He analyzes the larger structural forces at work and depicts the compelling voices of grassroots migrant activists. This is a must read."--Renato I. Rosaldo, New York University
"Reform Without Justice is a timely and courageous text that should be required reading for scholars and activists alike. It is an important contribution and bravely offers the critical perspective necessary for the achievement of truly just and humane migration policy."--Robyn Rodriguez, University of California, Davis
"It is timely, well written, and documented. It should find a wide audience among those interested in Latino politics." --CHOICE
"[Gonzales's] mixed method approach, weaving together interviews with movement activists, participant observation, and 'auto-ethnographic' testimony with textual and discursive analysis, provides a nimble and adept heuristic capable of connecting seemingly disparate trajectories from conservative think tanks, anti-afirmative action organizing, zero tolerance policy, globalizing industries, and contemporary anti-immigrant nativist forces in a fascinating
political and intellectual history. This includes a dynamic intellectual and political history of contemporary immigrant rights activists, advocates, non-proits, and organizations as well as key movement
marches, rallies, and protests. The result is a complex mapping of the intellectual and ideological roots of modern anti-immigrant forces coupled with a detailed accounting of the principal agents of change within the immigrant rights movement." -- Politics, Groups, and Identities
"Reform Without Justice is accessibly written and carefully explained, providing experts and readers entering the debate an excellent overview of the latest chapter in U.S. immigration politics. Moreover, Gonzales reveals what's hidden in plain sight in the national discourse-that behind each deportation statistic or unit of analysis is a human being with a family and a community." -- NACLA Report on the Americas
"A welcome and immense contribution to political theory and Latino studies...Reform without Justice is a scathing, incisive, and constructive critique of immigration reform that sets out to empower Latino immigrant youth with the tools necessary to forge a more efficacious, democratic, and autonomous activism, inviting them to reconsider critically the complex power relations constitutive of the antimigrant conglomerate and its multiple forms."
--Women, Gender, and Families of Color
"[A] significant contribution to the field of immigration studiesELtheoretically rich and politically necessary." -- Dialogo
"[A]n immensely important and informative book." -- Association of Mexican-American Educators
