The Case for Open Borders

(Hardback)

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Beautifully written narrative journalism and essayistic reflection: John Washington publishes in leading mainstream media outlets like The Atlantic, The Believer, and The Nation, and here makes a forthright case for open borders in an accessible style that will appeal to a broad readership.

Expert, well-connected author:This is Washington's second book on the subject of immigration. He is on the staff of a publication that covers the US-Mexico border and is based in Tucson. He is a longtime activist with border organization No More Deaths, and was the US editor of the leading Central American investigative news outlet, El Faro. He helped start NYC-DSAs immigration working group, and worked closely with Movimiento Cosecha.

High-profile endorsements and support: As an award-winning translator of leading Mexican and Central American authors like Anabel Hernandez and Oscar Martinez, the authors network of media supporters spans the border and includes front-line advocates and journalists. Jeremy Scahill has promised to help promote this book, and we can expect blurbs from Harsha Walia, Oscar Martinez, Nick Estes, Silky Shah, Francisco Cant, Jeremy Scahill, Karla Cornejo Villavicencio, and others.

Speaking engagements: In conjunction with immigration advocacy organizations to which the author is connected, like Detention Watch Network, the Florence Project, ACLU Immigration Rights Project, NDLON, and others.

Reviews

A powerful and convincing case for human solidarity and cooperation for which Washington provides a roadmap. 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, author ofNotA Nation of Immigrants: Settler-Colonialism , White Supremacy, and aHistory of Erasure andExclusion

"John Washington makes a strong, eloquent and even inspiring case for the relaxation and ultimately the abolition of border controls." JM Coetzee

"John Washingtons The Case for Open Borders is a compelling, empathetic argument, a far-reaching look into the origins of borders. Washington is one of our most thoughtful, creative, and humane journalists, and this new work will make people think differently about what they think they already know, about what divides and unites the world in new, surprising ways. Highly recommended." Greg Grandin

"Perhaps the most profound book youll read this year. Washington cleaves through all the cruel obfuscations and militaristic cant that derange our border and immigration politics and offers a better human alternative. Borders will not save us, or our rapidly broiling planet, but Washington's reportorial courage and ethical clarity just might." Junot Daz

Author Bio

John Washington is a staff writer at Arizona Luminaria, a community-focused media outlet where he writes about the border, climate change, democracy, and more. He has written for The Atlantic, The Washington Post, The Nation, The Intercept, and other outlets. His first book, The Dispossessed: A Story of Asylum at the US-Mexico Border and Beyond, was published in 2020 by Verso Books. Washington is also a translator of books by Anabel Hernandez, Sandra Rodriquez Nieto, and others. His most recent translations include The Hollywood Kidby scar Martnez and Juan Martnez, and Blood Barrios by Alberto Arce, which won a PEN Translates Award.Both were co-translated along with Daniela Ugaz.He lives in Tucson, Arizona, and tweets @jbwashing.