López-Sanders argues that the walls of American businesses hide a system of illegal practices and behaviors that lead to racial inequality in the labor market. The book sheds new light on a classic question about ethnic succession and segmentation in the labor market and reorients the ongoing debates about the economic impact of immigration.

"Using rich ethnographic detail, the book illustrates how employers manipulate the labor market using race, gender, class, and legal status, to make labor conditions precarious. The book urges a thorough analysis of the historically prevailing intersecting categories of difference and vulnerability to understand labor market inequality in the 21st century"--