Tensions in the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands: From Border Security to Local Insecurity

Over the last 30 years, the U.S. government has reinforced security around its borderlands with Mexico continuously, with migration becoming a top political issue. But what does this mean for the residents whose lives straddle the border? This book investigates the disconnect between what border security represents for state and non-state actors and the social, economic, and cultural realities of the borderlanders living in U.S.-Mexico border towns.

Focusing on the sister cities of Douglas, Arizona and Agua Prieta, Sonora, this book classifies borderlanders into four categories and highlights the ways in which border security actually creates disruptions in historical cross-border interactions and forms of economic and human insecurity. This book paints a rich picture of transborder connectedness, which contrasts starkly with the rhetoric of fear and invasion used by state and non-state actors. Its findings will be of interest to researchers and students working on border studies, international relations, geography, and security studies.

Cléa Fortuné is Associate Professor at the University Sorbonne Nouvelle, Paris, France. She is a member of the Center for Research on the English-Speaking World (CREW EA4399) and the Institut des Langues et Cultures d’Europe, Amérique, Afrique, Asie et Australie (ILCEA4). Her research examines border issues, security policies and transnational relations, with a particular focus on the dynamics of the U.S.-Mexico border region. She has contributed to several publications and has co-authored works such as Les États-Unis et l’Amérique latine, de Franklin Delano Roosevelt à Barack Obama, 1933-2017, which explores U.S.-Latin American relations during that period. She also appears in the French and Swiss media to discuss issues related to the U.S.-Mexico border.