"This meticulous, exemplary multisided ethnography articulates theoretical depth and empirical richness within an engaging narrative that moves deftly between U.S. contexts and immigrants' hometowns in Mexico, all the while preserving the complex interaction of the immigrants' political agency, the humanity of their lives, and the power of the state. Linking 'illegality' and transnational engagement, Abigail Andrews sheds new light on the impact of immigration enforcement in immigrants' worlds in the U.S. and in their hometowns, differentially affecting women and men. Hands down, Undocumented Politics is indispensable reading for anyone who cares about the lives of immigrants today and the future of their communities."-- Cecilia Menjívar, Foundation Distinguished Professor and Co-director of Center for Migration Research, Department of Sociology, University of Kansas "Why, despite shared socioeconomic and political marginalization, do some migrants continue to fight to get included in the United States while others return to Mexico to fight for the right not to migrate? Abigail Andrew's sensitively observed, beautifully written account of everyday politics shows how and for whom the sites of political activism are changing and how these shifts can give voice and power to previously excluded groups.

"-- Peggy Levitt, author of Artifacts and Allegiances: How Museums Put the Nation and the World on Display "With riveting close-up stories of struggle and with critical engagement with a broad set of ideas, Andrews offers us nothing less than a new model of transnational politics. Highly original and beautifully written, this book will have a lasting impact on the way we think about the politics of migration."--Pierrette Hondagneu-Sotelo, author of Paradise Transplanted: Migration and the Making of California Gardens "Abigail Andrews' innovative new book Undocumented Politics: Place, Gender, and the Pathways of Mexican Migrants substantially advances research in this field. She documents, in intimate ethnographic detail, how different kinds of inclusion and exclusion in the U.S. and Mexico, and their gendered negotiation, created different kinds of local transnational community politics in Retorno and Partida. The book shows her strengths as an ethnographer: she clearly listens to her informants, carefully traces processes within and across the cases of Retorno and Partida, is agile in her use of theory, and delights in finding and explaining unexpected outcomes. I really enjoyed reading this book.

" --Robert Courtney Smith, Professor, Marxe School of Public and International Affairs, Baruch College, and Sociology Department, Graduate Center, CUNY.