With a focus on Honduras, James J. Phillips explores the deeper causes of the massive emigration of Central Americans to the United States. Going beyond the frequently given reasons for migration, Phillips provides a detailed account of how the frenzied extraction of natural resources has created massive community displacement, dependency, poverty, and vulnerability, while encouraging corruption, violence, gang recruitment, drug trafficking, militarization of Honduran society, and systematic repression of popular protest and resistance.

Highlighting how this situation is tied to the colonial (or imperial) extractive relationship of Honduras to the United States, Phillips contends that the usual policy of development aid and investment to stem migration will only worsen the conditions that create migration. With this book, Phillips depicts how the Central American immigration “crisis” shapes life in the United States and Honduras, while making clear that the effects are not what populist politics imagine.

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This important book studies how various political and economic issues interact negatively with one another to the detriment of both Honduras and its bilateral relationship with the United States. Through solid analysis, Phillips convincingly shows how compounding problems in Honduras apply to other countries in Central America and elsewhere. This book skillfully dissects the intricacies of Honduras's political economy. Recommended. Advanced undergraduates through faculty.