Invisible Men

There have been Mexican squatters in San Diego for at least a hundred years, and at times they have been hunted, but never before so intensely. Three years ago, the local authorities razed the last of the old established camps—regular shantytowns, some with shanty bars and shanty churches. And the squatters who remain in the hills today are the ones who cannot be bull¬dozed away. Estimates of the numbers out there range from five thousand to forty thousand. Lacking contacts and knowledge that would allow them to reach safer ground, they crouch instead in farm sheds and camouflaged scrapwood shacks, and bear the weight of California's displeasure.In Invisible Men, legendary reporter William Langewiesche ventures into the hills of northern San Diego County to tell the stories of the men and women who live and work there illegally, desperately trying to make ends meet while avoiding the relentless threat of Border Patrol officers trying to hunt them down. Invisible Men was originally published in The New Yorker, February 23, 1998. Cover design by Adil Dara.