The Devil’s Highway by Luís Alberto Urrea
I was going to do this as a book review, recommending it to my “many” followers as a particularly telling and empathic explanation of what is wrong with our southern border. When I looked around a bit, I found this brilliant review in a legal journal. So . . . here below is a pointer to that.
I found the book disturbing, to say the least. The author describes the terrible ordeal of one group of migrants trying to cross the southern border. He then goes back to their origins - why on earth these men would even consider taking this dangerous trip. You feel for them and with them. They are literally just trying to make a life, just looking for a way to survive and get ahead a little.
The author gives an inside look at all of the agencies on both sides of the border, and how they are dealing with - or NOT dealing with - the problem. Plenty of blame here, some solutions. Fair warning - this is not for the faint of heart.
We need to spend more money on the border - more money paying for immigration judges and temporary shelters and assistance to all of those people trying to improve their lives. And we need a fair and equitable way for temporary workers to enter, earn a living, and go back home when they want. We need their labor and assistance, and they are clearly very willing to do it.
Enough said - download the full review with the link at the bottom and do read the book - be part of the solution. AND . . . thanks for that. We are all in this together and I am pulling for YOU.
One Quote:
The Devil’s Highway is the story of the 26 men who crossed into the deadly desert for a better life—the tragedy that the Border Patrol accurately called “Operation Broken Promise.”6 By sharing intimate details about the walkers’ lives, Urrea clearly wants his readers to empathize with them and understand why they risked their lives. Most of the walkers were from Veracruz, Mexico. Mostly, they were poor coffee farmers and factory workers. Some were indigenous and spoke Spanish as a second language. It is important to tell their stories.
Full Review
Abstract Source
https://digitalcommons.law.ggu.edu/ggu_law_review_blog/85/
Publication Date
4-11-2021
Abstract
A vivid, shocking, and provocative story about 26 “walkers”—migrating Mexican men who suffered and died in the Arizona desert on May 19, 2001—The Devil’s Highway is a profound work of nonfiction by Luís Alberto Urrea. Born in Tijuana to a Mexican father and an American mother, Urrea understands the contradictions and absurdities at the U.S.-Mexico border. While Urrea clearly wants the reader to learn about the walkers’ humanity and motivations to leave Mexico, he leaves it up to readers to arrive at their own conclusions about their coyotes and guides. Sometimes Urrea sympathizes with the walkers’ main guide, while in other instances, he paints him as the villain. When it comes to the Border Patrol, Urrea also focuses on their humanity. The Border Patrol agents are filled with “rage [at] the deaths of the illegals lured into the wasteland and then abandoned by their coyotes.” While it is gratifying to learn that the Border Patrol agents have a heart, Urrea falls short of painting the whole picture. Even a decade later after its publication, The Devil’s Highway is a must-read for everyone, particularly those in Congress who currently oppose any type of immigration reform and Americans who think immigrants do not pay taxes and come here solely to steal their jobs. And, for those who believe all immigrants are rapists and murderers, The Devil’s Highway is an important read that will inform otherwise.
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Recommended Citation
Jansen, Valeria Ramos, "The Politics of Stupidity at the U.S.-Mexico Border: The Devil’s Highway by Luís Alberto Urrea" (2021). GGU Law Review Blog. 85.
https://digitalcommons.law.ggu.edu/ggu_law_review_blog/85
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