Discuss: Working the Line

Great article and fitting tribute to Emmy Lou.

back in the 60s when i was about eight years old, (i’m 51) i lived in old fort bliss. right down the mountain fron the university of texas in el paso. the rio grande was my playground. i used to know a lot of border patrol people down there. or at least they knew me. they would see me cross the river back and forth and they never said anything. until one day. i used to steal a mare and a colt from the mexican side of the river. one day this one border patrol guy rode down on me when i got the horses across. no bridle, no saddle or nothing. i would just slap the mare on the side of the head and she would go. he was something out of a john wayne movie. as soon as i heard him, (he snuck up on me in his vehicle). i let the horses go. he just laughed and told me in a texas twang, “why didnt you ride them horses, we watch you all the time from up there”, pointing to a bluff behind him. i know some pretty good ones, they are not all racists, at least not all of them. if anyone can give us honest information and sound believable, it’s the border patrol. “la migra”. it would be nice if this agent is still with us, maybe he rememebers me.

I read the book, a must for anyone who doubts or doesn’t have a clue of what life is like for these guys and gals.  Living near the border in Arizona for 60 years we’ve seen many changes.  Not many of them for the better in terms of understanding the situation in Mexico.  Or here for that matter.  Urrea is a powerful story teller with the ring of authenticity.  We look forward to the day when Washington wakes from its long slumber and does something positive about immigration.

Thank the heavens for Luis Alberto Urrea! I never knew the truth about the Border Patrol until I read his writings. No doubt the BP agent who fills up water jugs for migrants crossing the desert and the one who uses his paycheck to buy stuff for detainees are typical for what you find in the Border Patrol. And all the well documented abuses by Border Patrol agents and their willing participation in the growing US police state in the borderlands that has led to the deaths of many thousands of migrants, divided families, etc. are not representative of what takes place. It is not the truth. Only Urrea has been honest enough to present the truth. He has the patches and other little gifts from Border Patrol agents, who have confided in him, to prove it. Thank you, Orion, for publishing this very enlightening essay. And thank for Luis Alberto Urrea for your modesty, self-criticism, and honesty.

in a way this just restores my faith in humanity. yes the border patrol is full of people that are in it for all the wrong reasons. but they are the exception to the rule. i have seen border patrol agents dive into rapid river currents to save a drowning person. if that doesn’t ease our concerns about how this country has turned zenophobic then just read the book. take a walk in the desert with a gallon of water, which after a couple of miles will seem like 10 pounds. they do a thankless job. i am for comprehensive immigration reform but we do need to get a handle on this immigration thing, especially when people die trying to find the jobs lost to n.a.f.t.a. they are chasing what is rightfully theirs, jobs. i pray for those border patrol agents who have taken their own lives because of what they see daily that we only read about in horror novels. thank you border patrol.

sorry, i meant that a gallon of water which weighs 8 lbs, will seem like 100.