Joseph Nevins was born and raised in Boston, Massachusetts, and received his PhD in Geography from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). His research interests include socioterritorial boundaries and mobility, violence and inequality, and political ecology; he has conducted research in East Timor, Mexico, the United States-Mexico border region, and the Greater Boston area. His books include Operation Gatekeeper and Beyond: The War On “Illegals” and the Remaking of the U.S.–Mexico Boundary and Dying to Live: A Story of U.S. Immigration in an Age of Global Apartheid.  He is a Professor of Geography at Vassar College.