Irvin Ibargüen
I am a professional historian, born and raised in Brooklyn, NY. Presently, I am a history professor at New York University where I teach courses on US and immigration history. My research proceeds from one question: what happens when we stop prioritizing how immigration impacts the US, and instead grapple with how sending states, transit states and migrants themselves experienced it?
My first book, Caught in the Current: Mexico’s Struggle to Regulate Emigration, 1940-1980, is out now.
Book Description
Caught in the Current: Mexico's Struggle to Regulate Emigration, 1940–1980 is a pioneering analysis of Mexico’s efforts to curb the outflow of its citizens to the United States. It spotlights the miscalculation of Mexican authorities, who believed they could restrain migration at will—particularly when it provoked social chaos, drained the domestic labor pool, or produced egregious cases of migrant abuse. Mexico’s counter-migratory policies, both those based on coercion and incentives, repeatedly collapsed. Mexican migrants resisted restrictions, U.S. authorities refused to cooperate, and Mexican officials ultimately lacked resolve. As the migration swelled, it slipped beyond Mexico’s control. What was once seen as a looming source of disorder, depletion, and disgrace became naturalized as an irreversible fact of national life.
Contact Page
For any inquiries, please reach out to me at ii300@nyu.edu. If it is time sensitive, please specify so in the subject line.