As the United States reconsiders immigration policy reform – particularly between the United States and Mexico – the focus should be on immigration and integration instead of tougher border security,  says University of California, Berkeley, professor of city and regional planning Michael Dear, the author of the new book, “Why Walls Won’t Work: Repairing the US-Mexico Divide.”

Dear logged nearly 10,000 miles visiting both sides of the border, from Tijuana/San Diego at the Pacific Ocean to Matamoros/Brownsville on the Gulf of Mexico.

During his journeys, he witnessed the construction of the border fortifications and the rapid expansion of “the U.S. border industrial complex.” He also recorded the wall’s detrimental effects on lives and communities, as well as how the affected communities adjusted to the changes brought by the barrier.

In “Why Walls Won’t Work,” Dear shares his accounts of present borderland realities and everyday life, illuminated by sharp insights into U.S. geopolitics, immigration issues, Mexico’s current challenges and a deep knowledge of centuries of the intercultural history of the U.S.-Mexico borderlands.

via Professor makes case for U.S.-Mexico border without walls.