Historian's book on U.S. Border Patrol wins major prize

A book that chronicles the untold history of the United States Border Patrol, written by Associate History Professor Kelly Lytle Hernández, has been awarded the William P. Clements Prize for the best non-fiction book on Southwestern America published in 2010. The $2,500 prize was given by the Clements Center for Southwest Studies at Southern Methodist University to honor the fine writing and original research done by Hernandez in "Migra! A History of the U.S. Border Patrol (University of California Press, 2010).

 

"Hernández's cross-border research for "Migra!" is substantial and impressive, revealing extensive interaction between the U.S. and Mexico in the policing of our borders," said the judging committee. "She moves beyond the everyday (and seasonal) influences of agribusiness on human cross-border migration and demonstrates how other groups and forces shaped the policies and enforcement of immigration controls." 

 

To research her book, Hernández sifted through lost and just-discovered records stored in garages, closets, an abandoned factory, and in U.S. and Mexican archives. Focusing on the daily challenges of policing the borderlands and bringing to light unexpected partners and forgotten dynamics, "Migra!" reveals how the U.S. Border Patrol converted its mandate for comprehensive migration control into a project of policing Mexicans in the U.S.-Mexico borderlands.
 

Hernández is associate director of the National Center for History in the Schools at UCLA. She will deliver a lecture, held in her honor, Nov. 8 at Southern Methodist University.