December 18th is International Migrants Day. Created by the United Nations, the day is observed “with the aim of creating more dialogues and interactions within countries and regions, as well as propelling experience exchange and collaboration opportunities.”

The United Nations continues, “Today, globalization, together with advances in communications and transportation, has greatly increased the number of people, who have the desire and the capacity to move to other places. This new era has created challenges and opportunities for societies throughout the world. It also has served to underscore the clear linkage between migration and development, as well as the opportunities it provides for co-development, that is, the concerted improvement of economic and social conditions at both origin and destination.”

UC Press is proud to have devoted much of our publishing on the topics of migrant history, sociology, art, and more. Pleas enjoy this collection of powerful scholarship in honor of #InternationalMigrantsDay.

Bans, Walls, Raids, Sanctuary
Understanding U.S. Immigration for the Twenty-First Century
(forthcoming May 2020)

by A. Naomi Paik

“A. Naomi Paik’s book is an indispensable resource for understanding immigration policy in the first decades of the 21st century.”
—Maria Cristina Garcia, author of The Refugee Challenge in Post-Cold War America

Legal Passing
Navigating Undocumented Life and Local Immigration Law

by Angela S. García

“Legal Passing contributes a much-needed examination of the effects of local immigration legislation on the everyday lives of Mexican undocumented immigrants. In engaging writing and with insightful analysis, Legal Passing also provides lessons for policy makers and for those concerned with these immigrants’ future membership in US society.”
—Cecilia Menjívar, author of Immigrant Families

Adventure Capital
Migration and the Making of an African Hub in Paris

by Julie Kleinman

“Disrupting dominant depictions of harried and desperate migrants currently flooding Europe from the South, this enthralling book tells a different story: that of West African adventurers who, for decades, have traveled to France to use its urban infrastructure in building durable futures—at once in the metropole, and back in the village. The result is a highly innovative study, both inspired and compelling.”
—Jean Comaroff, Alfred North Whitehead Professor of African and African American Studies and of Anthropology, Harvard University

In the Fields of the North / En los campos del norte

by David Bacon

“Bacon captures the humanity of workers who work each day in demanding physical labor, in the hot sun, and for poverty wages. This is one of the few publications that captures the authentic stories of California farm workers, through their own voices and with the images of their living and working conditions.”
—Kent Wong, Director, UCLA Labor Center

Deported to Death
How Drug Violence Is Changing Migration on the US–Mexico Border

by Jeremy Slack

“A fresh perspective on how drug violence has impacted migrants along the US-Mexico border, resulting in a persuasive and important account of how violence associated with the ‘war on drugs’ and violence experienced by migrants are interconnected.”
—Shaylih Muehlmann, author of When I Wear My Alligator Boots: Narco-Culture in the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands

The Big Gamble
The Migration of Eritreans to Europe

by Milena Belloni

“The Big Gamble is a monumental and perceptive story of migration. It takes the reader on a journey not just from Africa to Europe, but through reflections on moralities, risk and trust, that are central to contemporary mobility and immobility. Belloni’s account of Eritrean migration experiences is powered by formidable fieldwork and written with warmth and wisdom.”
—Jørgen Carling, Peace Research Institute Oslo