Acknowledgments
Operation Gatekeeper: The Rise of the “Illegal Alien” and the Making of the U.S.-Mexico Boundary (2002)
Despite the single author listed on the cover, a work such as this is never an individual endeavor. It is the outgrowth of countless conversations with friends, colleagues, and critics, the mining of other people's works, and the support — material as well as moral — of many individuals. In this regard, I must thank and acknowledge many, only a small number of whom I can mention here — not least because of the limits of my memory.
Much of this book originated from my doctoral dissertation at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). In this regard, I wish to acknowledge and thank the members of my dissertation committee: Mark Ellis; Gerry Hale; Raul Hinojosa-Ojeda; Michael Mann; and Joshua Muldavin. I have learned much from all of them. On numerous occasions, they constructively challenged my ideas and provided me with valuable feedback and helpful advice.
I would like to express my indebtedness especially to the two co-chairs of my committee: Mark Ellis, for his innumerable conversations, critical insights, extremely helpful comments, and bountiful moral support; and Gerry Hale, for his careful editing and, more importantly, for his many years of guidance and moral and political support. The dissertation was far better than it would have been without them.
The office staff of the UCLA Department of Geography — Jason Corbett, Susan Glines, and Tina Schroeter — generously put up with my myriad requests for assistance over the years. I thank them from the bottom of my heart.
I am highly appreciative of my former colleagues in the UCLA Department of Geography for helping to make my graduate career a rich experience. In this regard, I also want to recognize my fellow academic student employees at UCLA, especially those active in SAGE (the Student Association of Graduate Employees), the trade union of academic student employees.
Numerous friends helped me through the research and writing process in countless ways. They include: Kathy Beckett; Chris Brown; Clare Campbell; Nigel Chalk; Ben Forest; Lynn Fredriksson; Don Gauthier; Steve Herbert; Scott Kessler and Cheryl Lindley and their three children (Sade, Sophie, and Shane); Dave Runsten; Fred Seavey; Ben Terrall; Lisa Tsui; and Konstantin von Krusenstiern.
One of the joys of undertaking the research and writing was having the opportunity to meet a number of people who share both many of my academic interests and political concerns. In this regard, I thank Peter Andreas, Tim Dunn, Larry Herzog, Michael Huspek, and José Palafox. At various times, they all provided me with resources, valuable criticisms, and comradeship.
A number of people helped me in Washington, D.C. while I was there conducting interviews and doing archival work. I am indebted to Kate Doyle at the National Security Archive, Robert Ellis at the National Archives, Marian Smith, the Historian of the Immigration & Naturalization Service, and Marcus Stern of Copley News Service.
In terms of my fieldwork in San Diego and Tijuana, I am most grateful to Roberto Martinez of the American Friends Service Committee, Raul Ramirez, formerly of El Centro de Apoyo al Migrante, Claudia Smith of the California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation, and all the friends at Casa del Migrante. I also want to thank the numerous representatives of the United States Border Patrol who provided me with documentation and helped to arrange or took me on “line tours” and “ride-alongs” on several occasions.
A post-doctoral fellowship at the Institute of International Studies (IIS) at the University of California, Berkeley during 2000–2001 provided with the space and time to put the finishing touches on the manuscript. In this regard, I want to thank Michael Watts, the head of IIS, and Susana Kaiser, my colleague in the Rockefeller Foundation-funded “Communities in Crisis” program.
While living here in Berkeley, José Palafox was of invaluable assiatnce on many occasions. I also want to thank Sasha Kokha of the National Network of Immigrant and Refugee Rights in Oakland for her assistance. During that time, Connie Razza provided very helpful edits and comments on some of the chapters, help for which I am very grateful.
The UCLA Graduate Division, the UCLA Latin American Center, the Comparative Immigration and Integration Program of the Center for German and European Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, the UC MEXUS (the University of California Institute for Mexico and the United States), and the Rockefeller Foundation all provided me with generous financial assistance during the course of my research and writing. I am most appreciative.
Zoltán Grossman of the Department of Geography at the University of Wisconsin in Madison made the maps contained herein. I thank him for lending his cartographic skills and for doing such a fine job on the maps.
Anonymous reviewers of the original book manuscript were most helpful in pointing out weaknesses and suggesting constructive changes. I thank them. I also want to extend my gratitude to Eric Nelson of Routledge for his suggestions for reworking the manuscript, to production editor Jeanne Shu, and to copy editor Brian Bendlin for all their help.
Finally, I thank my family for their love and support, and express my infinite gratitude to Mizue — in addition for having read and commented on many sections of the book — for her love, patience and generosity, as well as her inspiring example.
