The story that Ashley Bavery tells in Bootlegged Aliens echoes into the present, offering insight into intransigent debates about immigration and social welfare in the United States. It will be of interest to students, educators, immigration advocates, union organizers, and policymakers. Bavery examines how people without citizenship status became central to the functioning of the industrial economy forged around the exploitation of laborers who were vulnerable to deportation. At the time of my reading, we are living through the retrenchment of the welfare state even as the global pandemic brings its relevance into stark relief. The book unfolds in the context of that welfare state’s emergence in the United States and reveals the “welfare cheat” discourse — and its entanglement with immigration policy — as present from the beginning.

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书评：盗版外星人：美国北部边境的移民政治

Ashley Bavery 在Bootlegged Aliens 中讲述的故事与现在相呼应，深入了解有关美国移民和社会福利的顽固辩论。学生、教育工作者、移民倡导者、工会组织者和政策制定者都会对此感兴趣。贝弗里研究了没有公民身份的人如何成为围绕剥削易被驱逐出境的劳工而形成的工业经济运作的核心。在我阅读本文时，我们正在经历福利国家的紧缩，即使全球大流行使福利国家的相关性大为缓解。这本书在福利国家在美国兴起的背景下展开，揭示了从一开始就存在的“福利欺骗”话语——及其与移民政策的纠葛。