Booklist

This title in the In Controversy series examines the vexing issue of illegal immigration. Barbour starts with context—an overview of nineteenth and early-twentieth-century legislative attempts at regulating immigration—and then examines a clutch of contentious issues surrounding the current impact of illegal immigration upon America’s economy, culture, crime, and national security. His strategy is to offer the sometimes inflated, sometimes reasonable views of advocates from both sides of the issue(s). The result is generally balanced, though his coverage of crime and terrorism does seem skewed in the conservative direction (could it be the quote Barbour includes from the magazine New American without informing readers it’s published by The John Birch Society?). One also wonders why, of the five Web sites listed in the appended “For Further Research” section, three are conservative and two libertarian. To be fair, the unbiased Pew Hispanic Center is often cited and readers are also referred to such immigration-friendly sources as La Raza and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund. Yes, a controversial issue—and perhaps a controversial book? — Michael Cart