Former U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar is drawing on his family history and decades in public office to argue for a more inclusive nation and a new approach to border policy.
In his memoir, “Borderlands: My Fight for an Inclusive America,” Salazar traces his journey from his family’s ranch in Colorado’s San Luis Valley to positions as Colorado attorney general, U.S. senator, interior secretary under President Barack Obama and ambassador under President Joe Biden.
A fifth-generation Mexican American, Salazar writes that his ancestors lived in the Southwest before it became part of the United States, following the Mexican American War. He contends that the conquest of Mexican territory should be understood alongside slavery and the dispossession of Native Americans as one of the country’s foundational injustices.
Salazar delivers his personal history alongside a critique of American immigration policy. He faults Republicans and Democrats for treating migration primarily as a political crisis while failing to modernize the legal immigration and asylum systems.
Salazar proposes a closer alliance among the United States, Mexico and Canada. His recommendations include expanding lawful pathways for foreign workers, processing more asylum applications before migrants reach the U.S.-Mexico border and coordinating security efforts throughout Central America.
The book also examines Salazar’s sometimes-frustrating tenure in Mexico. He says Washington gave insufficient attention to the Western Hemisphere, while then-Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador eventually restricted Salazar’s access after disagreements over policy.
Guest:
Ken Salazar is a former U.S. ambassador to Mexico, U.S. senator and secretary of the interior. He is the author of “Borderlands: My Fight for an Inclusive America.”
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