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Book Cover for: Border Patrol Nation: Dispatches from the Front Lines of Homeland Security, Todd Miller

Border Patrol Nation: Dispatches from the Front Lines of Homeland Security

Todd Miller

Paperback
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"In his scathing and deeply reported examination of the U.S. Border Patrol, Todd Miller argues that the agency has gone rogue since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, trampling on the dignity and rights of the undocumented with military-style tactics ... Miller's book arrives at a moment when it appears that part of the Homeland Security apparatus is backpedaling by promising to tone down its tactics, maybe prodded by investigative journalism, maybe by the revelations of NSA leaker Edward Snowden ... Border Patrol is quite possibly the right book at the right time ... "--Tony Perry, Los Angeles Times

"At the start of his unsettling and important new book, Border Patrol Nation, Miller observes that these days 'it is common to see the Border Patrol in places--such as Erie, Pennsylvania; Rochester, New York; or Forks, Washington--where only fifteen years ago it would have seemed far-fetched, if not unfathomable.'"--Barbara Spindel, Christian Science Monitor

"Miller's approach in Border Patrol Nation is to offer a glimpse into the secretive operations of the Border Patrol, reporting with a journalist's objectivity and nose for a good story. Miller's book is full of facts, and it's clear he's outraged, but he gives voices to people on every side of the issue ... Miller's book is a fascinating read ... and bring the work of Susan Orlean to mind."--Amanda Eyre Ward, Kirkus Reviews

"Todd Miller's invaluable and gripping book, Border Patrol Nation: Dispatches from the Front Lines of Homeland Security is the story of how this country's borders are being transformed into up-armored, heavily militarized zones run by a border-industrial complex. It's an achievement and an eye opener."--Tom Engelhardt, TomDispatch

"What Jeremy Scahill was to Blackwater, Todd Miller is to the U.S. Border Patrol!"--Tom Miller, author, On the Border: Portraits of America's Southwestern Frontier

"Todd Miller has entered a secret world, and he has gone deep ... Powerful."--Luis Alberto Urrea, author of The Devil's Highway: A True Story

"Journalist Miller tells an alarming story of U.S. Border Patrol and Homeland Security's ever-widening reach into the lives of American citizens and legal immigrants as well as the undocumented. In addition to readers interested in immigration issues, those concerned about the NSA's privacy violations will likely be even more shocked by the actions of Homeland Security."--Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

Armed authorities watch from a military-grade surveillance tower as lines of people stream toward the security checkpoint, tickets in hand, anxious and excited to get through the gate. Few seem to notice or care that the US Border Patrol is monitoring the Super Bowl, as they have for years, one of the many ways that forces created to police the borders are now being used, in an increasingly militarized fashion, to survey and monitor the whole of American society.

In fast-paced prose, Todd Miller sounds an alarm as he chronicles the changing landscape. Traveling the country--and beyond--to speak with the people most involved with and impacted by the Border Patrol, he combines these first-hand encounters with careful research to expose a vast and booming industry for high-end technology, weapons, surveillance, and prisons. While politicians and corporations reap substantial profits, the experiences of millions of men, women, and children point to staggering humanitarian consequences. Border Patrol Nation shows us in stark relief how the entire country has become a militarized border zone, with consequences that affect us all.

Todd Miller has worked on and written about US border issues for over fifteen years.

Book Details

  • Publisher: City Lights Books
  • Publish Date: Apr 8th, 2014
  • Pages: 358
  • Language: English
  • Edition: undefined - undefined
  • Dimensions: 7.90in - 5.20in - 0.80in - 0.80lb
  • EAN: 9780872866317
  • Categories: • Law Enforcement• Emigration & Immigration• Security (National & International)

About the Author

For the past fifteen years, Todd Miller has researched, written about, and worked on immigration and border issues from both sides of the U.S. Mexico divide for organizations such as BorderLinks, Witness for Peace, and NACLA. He did the brunt of this work in Tucson, Arizona and Oaxaca, Mexico, with stints in New York City. Between Tucson and the Buffalo/Niagara Falls region of New York state where he grew up, he has spent the majority of his life close to the U.S. international boundary, south and north. His writings about the border have appeared in the New York Times, TomDispatch, Mother Jones, The Nation, Al Jazeera English, and Salon among other places.

Praise for this book

"Todd Miller's powerful prose belies what one hopes is a growing sense of outrage at the inhuman and racist goals of U.S. border enforcement. His journeys from place to place and the complexities he presents within the Border Patrol itself provide the reader with a comprehensive picture of what's wrong in the United States. This is a book that should not be ignored."--Dawn Paley, Upside Down World

"If examined closely enough, the swollen border security complex also reveals who watches and who is watched. Miller has done us all a great service by helping to expose this dichotomy."--Aaron Cantu, Latino Rebels

" ... it is an important wake-up call for those who have not kept up with the morally troubling expansion of this mammoth security apparatus."--Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality & Practice

"Miller is not an armchair theorist. He has reported on border issues for a decade, including for the New York Times ... He writes of the people he sees as the victims of the Border Patrol's abrasiveness and also of the cruel deportation policy of the Obama administration that breaks up families ... But the book shows surprising sympathy for many agents who are required by their jobs to be enforcers of a tough system."--Tony Perry, Miami Herald

"Miller's approach in Border Patrol Nation is to offer a glimpse into the secretive operations of the Border Patrol, reporting with a journalist's objectivity and nose for a good story. Miller's book is full of facts, and it's clear he's outraged, but he gives voices to people on every side of the issue ... Miller's book is a fascinating read ... and bring the work of Susan Orlean to mind."--from interview with author by Amanda Eyre Ward, Kirkus Reviews

"[Miller] offers a vision of what the military-industrial complex looks like once it's transported, jobs and all, to the US-Mexican border and turned into a consumer mall for the post-9/11 era ... [it's] a striking and original picture."--Tom Engelhardt, TomDispatch

"Solid, absorbing reportage on the government's racist and constitutionally questionable notions of border security in the post-9/11 world ... An unsettling but important read."--Kirkus Reviews

"What Jeremy Scahill was to Blackwater, Todd Miller is to the U.S. Border Patrol!"--Tom Miller, author, On the Border: Portraits of America's Southwestern Frontier

"Todd Miller has entered a secret world, and he has gone deep. If you want to learn about the Border Patrol's world, you will find this book informative and startling. I'm not sure the Border Patrol will like all that he has to say. But his is a moral work that wrestles with a huge story. Powerful."--Luis Alberto Urrea, author of The Devil's Highway: A True Story

"Journalist Miller tells an alarming story of U.S. Border Patrol and Homeland Security's ever-widening reach into the lives of American citizens and legal immigrants as well as the undocumented. He describes the militarization of the Border Patrol and concurrent dehumanizing of 'unauthorized' persons; American citizens routinely harassed and arrested in Constitution-free zones that extend 100 miles from all borders; the expulsion of a exemplary Border Patrol agent for expressing his Mexican identity in casual conversation; and the Border Patrol's Explorer Academy for children, which, with its lock-step marching, black boots, law-enforcement training, and indoctrination is eerily evocative of fascism and Hitler Youth. Miller reveals the 'complex and industrial world' looming behind the border patrol, spanning 'robotics, engineers, salespeople and detention centers' and the new generation of Explorers. 'It is the world in which we now live, ' he states, 'where eradicating border violations is given higher pr