Run for the Border offers a framework for a truly comprehensive border policy informed by the history of the last 150 yearsof border crossings in both directions. Although Congress has debated so-called comprehensive immigration reform proposals for years, those proposals emphasize border security to prevent crossings by stereotypically menacing Mexicans headed north. The United States tends to approach reform unilaterally without engaging Mexico and other feeder countries to examine the economic factors that lure immigrants across a border separating a rich country from a poor one. This study ... More

Run for the Border offers a framework for a truly comprehensive border policy informed by the history of the last 150 yearsof border crossings in both directions. Although Congress has debated so-called comprehensive immigration reform proposals for years, those proposals emphasize border security to prevent crossings by stereotypically menacing Mexicans headed north. The United States tends to approach reform unilaterally without engaging Mexico and other feeder countries to examine the economic factors that lure immigrants across a border separating a rich country from a poor one. This study envisions a more sweeping and compassionate border policy, informed in particular by the motivations of border crossings in both directions over the last century and a half. Viewed through this lens, a strong argument is made that Mexican migrant laborers are the most meritorious of border crossers in either direction, and that their crossings should be celebrated for contributing to U.S. labor markets and renewing the American dream that hard labor brings prosperity. At the other end of the spectrum, certain crossings harm both countries, particularly the trafficking of methamphetamines to supply U.S. users, trafficking children into the United States for sexual slavery, and fugitives crossing the border into Mexico to escape justice. Articulating a harm reduction agenda, the comprehensive border policy articulated here targets the crossings most damaging to the residents and ideals of the United States and Mexico after stripping away the stereotypes and myths that surround the immigration debate and border policy.