Power and Control in the Imperial Valley examines the evolution of irrigated farming in the Imperial-Mexicali Valley, an arid desert straddling the California–Baja California border, bisected by the international boundary line.

Benny Andrés analyzes and traces the bi-national competition over the Colorado River, the capitalistic transformation of nature for industrial agriculture, the creation of a racialized, hierarchical agricultural labor force, and the repression of social and labor dissenters.