The dramatic debate over immigration that played out in America's streets and the halls of Congress last year is about to return to the national stage with the almost certain introduction of Comprehensive Immigration Reform Legislation in coming months.

Yet a critical element was missing from last year's debate: Why are ever more Mexicans leaving home for a risky, uncertain, and difficult life abroad? What are the conditions in Mexico that are behind the steep rise in out migration?
Many Americans are asking: Wasn't NAFTA supposed to lift boats on both sides of the border making widespread immigration a thing of the past? Why can't Mexico's government and economy produce opportunities at home for Mexican workers and farmers? Is immigration reform just a temporary band-aid if we don't turn these things around somehow?

This spring we are inviting two well- known writers and experts on immigration, labor, and trade issues to tour the US on the eve of the anniversary of last year's historic immigrations rights marches to help us grapple with these complex and controversial issues.

David Bacon and Juan Manuel Sandoval will delve deeply into these issues and help us to better understand them using photos and stories from their years of organizing, and research of how these issues are shaping the futures of both the United States and Mexico.

Juan Manuel Sandoval

Born in Mexico City, Juan Manuel Sandoval is a leading social activist and academic in Mexico City who holds a Ph.D. in Anthropology from UCLA. He is General Coordinator of the Permanent Seminar on Chicano and Border Studies in Mexico City, a member of the Coordinating Committee of the Mexican Action Network on Free Trade, and member of the Board of Directors of the National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (USA).

David Bacon

David Bacon is a writer and photojournalist on issues of labor, immigration and international trade. On the tour, he will share analysis and photos from his recently published photo-documentary books, The Children of NAFTA and Communities Without Borders, to highlight the realities of immigrants here in the United States and of Mexicans still living in Mexico.

For twenty years, Bacon was a labor organizer for unions with a large percentage of immigrant workers in their membership. Those experiences give him a unique insight into changing conditions in the workforce, the impact of the global economy on migration, and how these factors influence workers rights. Bacon was chair of the board of the Northern California Coalition for Immigrant Rights, and helped organize the Labor Immigrant Organizers Network and the Santa Clara Center for Occupational Safety and Health.