Ragini Shah

Constructed Movements: Extraction and Resistance in Mexican Migrant Communities is a profound exploration of migration as a system of extraction by Ragini Shah. The book examines the structural forces driving migration from Mexico to the United States, ​ addressing each phase of migration: dislocation, displacement, entrenchment, and resistance. ​ Shah highlights how economic policies, racial capitalism, and neoliberal reforms in Mexico dislocate individuals from their home communities by divesting from small-scale agriculture, suppressing wages, and cutting social spending. ​ This forces individuals to migrate, often into exploitative industries in the U.S., such as agriculture, food processing, and service work, where they face harsh working conditions, racism, and limited legal protections. ​

Shah critiques the U.S. immigration enforcement regime, which criminalizes migrants while simultaneously facilitating their entry into exploitative labor markets. ​ She highlights the resistance efforts of migrant communities, such as organizations like FIOB in Oaxaca and CAFAMI in Tlaxcala, which advocate for the "right not to migrate" by demanding state investment in education, health care, and sustainable employment. The book calls for radical policy changes in both Mexico and the U.S. ​ Shah advocates for dismantling exploitative systems, redistributing resources to migrant communities, and enabling self-determined migration through mechanisms like migrant self-sponsorship. ​ She emphasizes that migration should be a choice, not a necessity, and urges both nations to address the structural harms that perpetuate migration as extraction. ​

​The book combines rigorous analysis with the voices of affected communities, making it essential reading for scholars, students, policymakers any anyone interested in migration, racial justice and labor rights. ​ It challenges readers to rethink migration not as a solution to inequality but as a mechanism that perpetuates systemic injustice. ​ Shah’s call for abolitionist investments and reparations is a powerful reminder that reform without recompense cannot rectify the harm caused by decades of extraction.

Star rating: 5 Stars

Summary: A bold and paradigm-shifting analysis of migration as a racialized system of extraction.