A beautifully written, broadly accessible, and forthright argument for a solution to the migration crisis: open the gates
Because of restrictive borders, human beings suffer and die. Closed borders force migrants seeking safety and dignity to journey across seas, trudge through deserts, and clamber over barbed wire. In the last five years alone, over 60,000 people have died or gone missing while attempting to cross a border.
As we deny, cast out, and crack down, we have stripped borders of their potential—as lines of contact, catalyst, and blend—turning our thresholds into barricades.
Brilliant and provocative, The Case for Open Borders deflates the mythology of national security through border lockdowns by revisiting their historical origins. It counters the conspiracies of immigration’s economic consequences, and it urgently considers the challenges of climate change beyond the boundaries of narrow national identities.
This book grounds its argument in the experiences and thinking of those on the frontlines of the crisis, spanning the world to do so. In each chapter, John Washington profiles a character impacted by borders. He adds to those portraits provocative analyses of the economics and ethics of bordering, concluding that, if we are to seek justice or sustainability, we must fight for open borders.
In recent years, important thinkers have begun to urge a different approach to migration, but no book has made the argument as accessible or as compelling. Washington’s case shines with the voices of people on the move, a portrait of what a world with open borders will give to our common future.
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“A powerful and convincing case for human solidarity and cooperation for which Washington provides a road map. Unlike many commentaries and books about the fraught border, he does not leave out the Indigenous communities whose homelands have existed in the area for centuries before the border was violently imposed by the United States in 1848.”
— Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, New York Times bestselling author
“Pete Cross[‘s] well-paced narration captures the author’s passion for migrants and…maintains a journalistic tone as the text traverses the globe…Worth hearing and considering.”
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John Washington is the author of two nonfiction books. He is a staff writer at Arizona Luminaria, where he writes about the border, climate change, democracy, and more. He has written for The Atlantic, The Nation, The Intercept, the Washington Post, and other outlets. He is also a translator of books, including Blood Barrios by Alberto Arce, which won a PEN Translates Award.
Pete Cross is an Earphones Award–winning narrator. He holds a BA in theater from the University of Toledo and an MFA in acting from the California Institute of the Arts. His experience on stage includes Carnegie Hall, and he has also acted in film. He has served on the faculty at Cal Arts and with Aquila Morong Studio in Hollywood. He has coached for film and theatrical productions and continues to work with private clients all over the world.