"Searing . A rich, novelistic tale of a young woman whose life spans both sides of the United States-Mexican border . [Aida''s] a radiantly optimistic character in a relentlessly bleak, unlucky world."The Death and Life of Aida Hernandez is an illuminating work of literature, not an ideological tract." --Michelle Goldberg, The New York Times Book Review "Bobrow-Strain writes like a journalist and sociologist, with clear information on history and policy, along with plenty of narrative tension. Hernandez is not a perfect immigrant (she has a criminal record), but she''s a real one, and her story provides insight into how the larger immigration machine actually works." --Adriana E. Ramirez, Los Angeles Times " The Death and Life of Aida Hernandez gives a human perspective to the politics surrounding immigration .

It is a powerful story." -- The Denver Post "In his deeply researched, captivating new book, The Death and Life of Aida Hernandez: A Border Story , Aaron Bobrow-Strain illustrates the complexity of human experience that sometimes accompanies migrants because, like the rest of us, they are people . a powerful testament to migrants that deserves a more central role in immigration law debates . like other great storytellers, [Bobrow-Strain] has written what is better described as a story about people who happen to be migrants. It''s the people who animate his account, and not the circumstances that convince us to care about the people." -- César Cuauhtémoc García Hernández, North American Congress on Latin America "The Death and Life of Aida Hernandez manages to seamlessly weave together the very personal true story of an undocumented Mexican-American woman while also providing readers a sense of how her many misfortunes are interconnected with the U.S.''s border policies over the past 30 years.

A beautiful introduction to anyone interested in the subject of immigration" -- San Diego City Beat "Aaron Bobrow-Strain''s new book about the border, The Death and Life of Aida Hernandez , combines the life story of a young undocumented woman, told in extraordinary detail, with a history of the U.S. border enforcement regime . Bobrow-Strain, a professor of politics at Whitman College and an immigration rights activist, first connected with the border when he worked for BorderLinks in Douglas in the 1990s. His book benefits from his first-hand experiences in la frontera as well as his scholarly research into the history of Douglas and immigration law. And his compassion."-- Margaret Regan, Tucson Weekly "Here, at long last, is a nonfiction account of our country''s immigration drama written with the intelligence, passion, and sweep of a great novel. There are echoes of Victor Hugo and Emile Zola in The Death and Life of Aida Hernandez .

It is a harrowing and intimate account of an epic, cross-border journey, a tale filled with family, violence, love, injustice, perseverance, and, ultimately, redemption." -- Hector Tobar, author of Deep Down Dark and The Barbarian Nurseries "Excellently researched and exquisitely told, here is a story of the Americas for our times." --Sandra Cisneros, author of The House on Mango Street and Women Hollering Creek and Other Stories "Bobrow-Strain, an academic and an immersion journalist of conscience in the mode of Alex Kotlowitz, tells the dramatic true tale of a woman he calls Aida Hernandez with extraordinary clarity and power . In this caring and unforgettable borderland saga, Bobrow-Strain reveals the profound personal toll of the immigration crisis." -- Donna Seaman, Booklist (Starred Review) "A professor combines his academic research with his decades long U.S.-Mexico border activism to brightly illuminate immigration realities by focusing on the struggles of one young woman . [A] powerful saga .

This potent, important work, which ''occupies a space between journalism and ethnography, with a dash of oral history and biography,'' adds much to the continuing immigration debate." -- Kirkus (Starred Review) " The Death and Life of Aida Hernandez weaves the personal narrative of a single immigrant with the complex history of the southern border, where many people used to feel that their culture and identity traversed the border line . Aida''s story--of border flight, immigration court, for-profit detention, and family separation--is required reading in the age of Trump." -- Rosa Furneaux, Mother Jones "[A] lyrical and intimate account . Hernandez is never reduced to a lecture prop. She is the protean American, in search of herself, re-inventing as she must." -- Oscar Villalon, Literary Hub.