"Legalizing Moves analyzes the battle Salvadoran immigrants have fought for two decades to win legal permanent residency in the United States. Drawing on interviews with Salvadoran asylum applicants, observations of deportation hearings, and fieldwork within the Salvadoran community in Los Angeles, Susan Bibler Coutin describes these immigrants' efforts to negotiate immigration laws that have become increasingly restrictive.".

"Legalizing Moves will appeal to those interested in immigration, human rights, Central America, law, violence, globalization, and the boundaries of citizenship. It is an ethnography that sheds light on the meanings of borders, the politics of citizenship, and the criteria that have been used to define "Americanness.""--BOOK JACKET.