Customer Reviews

Illegal: Life and Death in Arizona's Immigration War Zone

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(5)

 

 

I galloped through this book. When I finished, I turned around and read it through again. It is an eye-opener and a heart-opener. The people's stories are as varied as they are moving and through these stories we begin to understand how it must feel to live off-stage, in the shadows in Arizona. We've puzzled over this issue for years but much of the illegal immigration discussion has concentrated on statistics. This book examines the humanity (and lack of same) which have to be considered in this discussion. The integrity and talent of Terry Greene Sterling, one of our best investigative journalists, is evident in the thorough research behind every page. The reader is assured these words are true.

For those of us living in Arizona, it's been especially difficult to parse fact from fiction, the real people from the caricatures, here at Immigration War Zone Ground Zero. Terry Greene Sterling, a multiple award-winning AZ journalist, goes beyond the political flash points to uncover the real circumstances of immigrants in the underground, as well as those pursuing them. This book is required reading for anyone wondering, "How did things get like this?"

Terry Greene Sterling has done an amazing job of showing us the human cost of our broken immigration system to citizens as well as non-citizens.

Terry Green Sterling's treatment of the border issues facing Arizona is truthful, sensitive and epiphanic. I travel often in Mexico and Sonora in particular and have witnessed the accuracy of Terry's account of the people and her experiences. I live in Phoenix and agree with her astute assessments of the conditions she describes on both sides of the border. She does an excellent job of portraying a cross section of the Latino community, the problems they face, the circular logic in laws and enforcement that create a lose-lose situation for us all.

Though her anecdotal stories are persuasive, she backs up her appraisal with hard facts and figures from reliable sources. She presents the arguments used on both sides of the debate and provides the readers with enough evidence to form their own opinion. The reader sees the heartbreak of families torn apart, the frustration of Latinos and Anglos waiting for a solution, and the hate fertilized by fear.

This book was nearly impossible for me to put down. Not only was "Illegal" informative, but she has a beautiful and captivating writing style that draws the reader in and holds you till the very end. You will not soon forget the haunting humanity Terry parades before you, one by one. I wish everyone in Arizona and those affected by these immigration issues would read this book. I also wish our politicians in Washington, who determine immigration reform legislation would read this book too.

The anti-immigration movement is fueled by misconceptions that all illegals crossing our border from Mexico are criminals. Who wouldn't support this, if it were true. Terry Greene Sterling has shined a light on this misconception and shown the ugly truth. Living in Arizona, i see the bigger picture. This book is a must read if you want to understand the complexities of the issue. Putting up the "danged fence" does nothing to solve the problems. However, it is politically popular.

This book is amazing. I have never read a story about immigration and the border that is both so well informed and written so deeply from the heart. Truth is harsh here, yet is rendered to the reader so tenderly. Terry Greene Sterling is inured to the territory to the point where affectation would be impossible. It is a monumental achievement in both research and narrative. What's next, Terry?

This is sentimental orientalism. I know it is not about the east. It is east of no place but San Diego. But there is no equivalent term about the south). The author has set out to create an "other" than will be appealing and touch the heartstrings of a Western, middle class, secular audience. It's an easy thing to do. Hell. I've done it myself. Lots of times. But that does not make it right. In the longer term, always take a cold, jaundiced eye on your subject matter, their hopes and dreams, their spouses. their babies, and their puppy dogs. Try and understand everyone, trust no one.

One of the places I learned that trust is not a thing of value is that I used to do immigration law. I even did some criminal defense too. For money. I heard different versions of the stories the author provides from directly from their sources. Trouble is, they always lied. It required extracting the truth in multiple interviews that used to shock me from how close they seemed to PoW interrogations before you extracted anything like the information you needed to effectively represent them. I used to provide them with excuses to assuage their humiliation at having been forced to tell the truth. "Of course, I understand, you are used to the civil law system, but here in the United States", etc. I do not see the author showing evidence of having done anything but allowing the sources to pitch softballs. Whatever the rights or wrongs in a particular case, there is no value in not pushing to establish them.

On the other side of the issue, I am reminded, as Captain Ahab should have said, "why look for a great white whale when you've got a fish in a barrel". Sheriff Arpaio is not an attractive figure to her audience. Few populist elective officials in such a position are. Focusing on him and his eccentric if painful policies makes it easier a good-guy bad-buy division than reality permits.

This book does give me a reason to trust the author. I resent the author's attempt to claim, as an advocate, moral superiority in a way that would not be sophisticated or convincing in a high school debate. The claim that the "good people" agree with her certainly leads more to an appearance of comic moral sanctity than a persuasive argument. Now, I've written enough political speeches to know a thing or two about making arguments of why you should do what I say and that those who do not are obviously evil. I have been disingenuous, but I've always tried to do better than this.

In some places, I was reminded of ZEITOUN. In this book, as there, the author provides brief background information on the larger international situation that is more biased than accurate (in ZEITOUN, this included an exculpatory reference to the hideous Assad regime that, as we read this, is shooting down its own citizens). ZEITOUN lacked the ring of truth. It presented a successful contractor in America's most corrupt city (beating even my home town of NYC, which must come close) as a faux naif, done in by his own sensitive and touching faith in the American dream (and his kindness to puppy dogs). The lack of credibility in ZEITOUN, I believed, undercut the significant craft elements of the narrative.

If there is a craft lesson here, stick to the facts rather than the special pleading. No prose has ever moved me as much as the column of figures on my 401(k) statement which reduced me to sobbing). It takes nothing away from the seriousness of the problems described and the associated human toll to say they deserve better than this.

I had to keep putting this book down because the stories are so intense and so personal. My fellow Americans: please stop judging until you either (a) walk for miles across the deadly desert in their moccasins; or (b) read this book. The author, although a "gringo" has the rare ability to truly communicate with Mexican citizens who want to immigrate to the US because of her unique childhood, being raised on both sides of the border and learning fluent Spanish as a young child. This book brilliantly communicates her own personal stories about the people she's met. They open up to her because it is obvious she cares. The stories are ones I've never heard before, and they are remarkable stories of courage.

If you are a caring human being, read the book.

If you believe that US Citizenship is something that should only be conveyed on you and your relatives and not anyone else who wasn't fortunate enough to be born here, and you really only care about your money and paying less taxes or whatever, this book is not for you.

My name is indexed between the words "cocaine and "coyote", and if you read the book where this comes from you will find the words immigration, borders, kidnappings, hope, fear and DREAM... My name is there because I live in the Arid Zone and because of "Illegal".
Terry Greene Sterling is an award winning journalist and now book author thanks to "Illegal, Life and Death in Arizona's Immigration War Zone" published by Globe-Pequot Press. I will start this comment fully disclosing my relationship with Terry: We became friends when she looked for me as a source of information for her book. However do not read Illegal to find me there. Read the book because it has vivid narrative and stories of immigration and the people affected by the broken system in Maricopa County, Arizona, ground zero of the immigration debate with interesting dispatches from the border towns. You would want to read the book to find the story of "Viri" the dreamer who I have the honor to befriend. Or you really want to know what Joe Arpaio is like when he talks to a group of core supporters and lowers his guard, or the people that crosses mental and political borders. The cheap politics of immigration who victimize us all. The good, bad and the people that are doing their best to survive.
Terry describes the effects of the anti-immigrants laws in the micro economy of the "tienditas -dollar stores- that cater to immigrants so you formulate your own conclusion on the effects on the macro- economy of the State. Reading the stories you will find Terry, intrepid journalist with insatiable curiosity and a special ability to build a comfortable environment for the people she interviews to reveal their most intimate secrets and thoughts. You will find that she loves and respects her profession.
Terry invites you to join her to a journey into the immigration underground and meet the people who are hunkering down expecting a better tomorrow. You will no be disappointed of the ride.

ILLEGAL: LIFE AND DEATH IN ARIZONA'S IMMIGRATION WAR ZONE profiles the undocumented people who live and work in Arizona - and those who persecute them. Arizona's violent border is a busy gateway for illegal immigration in America: no state is as hostile to them as Phoenix, yet it's home to thousands who have no civil rights. This documentation of the heart of an immigration war makes for an involving, thought-provoking survey for any discussion on illegal immigration and immigration and civil liberties in America.