Opening the doors.

• Author: Fittipaldi, Santiago
• Position: Peter Laufer - Rese

Wetback, Nation By Peter Laufer Ivan R. Dee US$14.95

For decades, some U.S. politicians have pushed to curtail illegal, and sometimes even legal, migration from Mexico to the United States. Some in Washington even support building a wall along the border--a measure just signed by President George W. Bush--to cut off the flow. For author Peter Laufer, the solution to the immigration dilemma lies not in closing the border but in throwing the doors wide open.

In his book Wetback Nation, Laufer, a former NBC News correspondent who has covered Mexico and the border for more than two decades, advocates for a free flow of people between two countries that have already established a free flow of goods under Nafta. Laufer believes opening the border would not only help end abuses against Mexican workers but could help the U.S. to enforce restrictions against people it wants to keep out. He is critical of Washington's immigration policies, which he generally views as overly restrictive for an economy that has long exhibited high demand for Mexican labor.

But, he doesn't present Mexico as a victim, delving into the country's own immigration dilemmas. He examines the Mexican government's immigration policy toward Central and South Americans coming across its southern border, in some cases to seek work and, in others, to use Mexico as a gateway to the United States. The situation gives rise to some awkward tactics: Border guards who suspect travelers crossing the Mexican-Guatemalan border using fake Mexican documents are made to sing several verses of the Mexican national anthem to prove their citizenship.

On the U.S. side of the border, the author explores the complex world of self-appointed vigilantes who...