Caught in the Current

“A fantastic achievement. Painstakingly researched, beautifully written, tightly argued, and well-organized, it offers a fresh perspective that students and scholars of both Mexico and the United States will appreciate and learn from.”—American Historical Review

“Not only is this a Bracero history, but an extensive study of legal and labor policy and immigration, offering necessary historical insight into current border politics. . . . It is a critical and balanced contribution to Mexican political history and diasporic laborers caught in the current, asserting why Mexico has had an effectively absent role in countermigratory forces today.”—Western Historical Quarterly

“Caught in the Current constituye una aportación novedosa a la amplia historiografía de la migración mexicana hacia Estados Unidos. / Caught in the Current is novel contribution to the ample historiography of Mexican migration to the United States”—Pablo Yankelevich, Hispanic American Historical Review

“Ibargüen’s groundbreaking work examines the deeper implications of Mexico’s determined—yet ultimately futile—efforts to limit out-migration. It shows how these policies influenced national identity and the transnational struggle for sovereignty amid relentless migratory pressures.”—Neil Foley, author of Mexicans in the Making of America

“Sheds a completely different light on today’s immigration restrictionists, taking readers deep into Mexico’s attempts to leverage the insatiable US demand for its workers.” —Aviva Chomsky, author of Undocumented: How Immigration Became Illegal

“By viewing the world from the top down as well as the bottom up, Ibargüen demonstrates the urgency of transnational perspectives and changes our understanding of the Bracero Program forever.” —Matt Garcia, author of Eli and the Octopus

“With insight and urgency, Ibargüen charts the push and pull between state power and migrant resilience, exposing how Mexican and US officials prioritized power while migrants bore the consequences.”—Mark Overmyer-Velázquez, editor of Construyendo el gran México: La emigración mexicana a Estados Unidos

“Ibargüen’s richly researched and nuanced interpretation of Mexico’s role in the Bracero Program is a significant addition to the study of migration and US-Mexican diplomatic relations.”—Sonia Hernández, Texas A&M University

“Through centering Mexico in the story of migration policies, Caught in the Current offers an original and much-needed perspective on the history of the US-Mexico border.”—Miguel A. Levario, Texas Tech University