Empathy in Pages: Understanding Migration Through the Heart of a Border Patrol Agent
In The Line Becomes a River, Francisco Cantú provides a heartfelt memoir about his own experiences as a Border Patrol agent and the impact it had on his understanding of immigration, border enforcement, and the human experiences that intertwine with policies. Through his personal storytelling, Cantú provides the reader an intimate and eye-opening look into the complexities of life on the border, where law, politics, and human desperation all meet in one place. He is able to draw upon historical context and the works of different historians to offer a deeper understanding of the humanitarian issues at play in the borderlands.
Memoirs can be complicated forms of expression that offer up to the reader a unique mix of the author’s personal narratives, self reflections, and interpretations of events that have occurred throughout their life. Some limitations that may come from a memoir are the potential for subjective bias or even selective memory. Cantú, as the author, has the power to control the narrative he wants to portray to audiences, giving himself the ability to leave gaps in the readers understanding or omitt contradictory viewpoints that don’t quite align with his perspective. However, utilizing a memoir to better understand a different perspective of history can help to portray human life as it lines up with historical events.
Nothing is ever as simple as black and white when it comes to real life. You can read academic article after academic article about the migration of illegal immigrants across the U.S.-Mexico border but nothing can create such an emotional appeal quite like a memoir written by an agent who spent years learning and living through the complexities of border enforcement and migrant experiences.
Within the context of history, illegal immigration has often been noted as a nuisance to the U.S. due to concerns over national security, economic strain, and cultural tensions. Cantú’s memoir offers up a reexamination of this depiction, challenging the reader to consider the human stories behind the statistics and policies. By humanizing both illegal migrants and Border Patrol agents, he insists that the reader empathize with the people caught in the mix of border politics and to question the simplistic narratives that often dominate the news. He begs the reader to understand that these are real people who feel so compelled to cross the desert because the circumstances in their home country have left them no choice, even if death is a likely outcome.
“Economic metaphors were predominant, characterizing migrant deaths as a “cost,” “calculation,” or “gamble.” Death is a price that is paid, a toll collected by the desert. Death is the foreseeable outcome of “cost-benefit analysis, with measurable, calculable risks and consequences.” Death is the ultimate risk in a game of chance, the unlucky result of a roll of the dice. Metaphors like these, Zavisca writes, “naturalize death” and “suggest that migrants bear some responsibility for their own deaths.” (Cantú p. 109)
Within his memoir, Cantú is able to provide the unique perspective of the day to day activities and thoughts of a Border Patrol agent. We as the readers have the privilege to follow along as he portrays the ways in which Border Portal agents navigate the web of policies and moral dilemmas found within their work. He describes the ways in which they lure migrants into traps, chase them through the harsh terrain of the desert, and how he in particular grapples with the emotional toll of these actions. Having conversed with many migrants who he has detained, he also has the ability to provide the perspective of those on the other side of the border, offering a glimpse into their motivations, fears, and struggles. This perspective also aids in examining the complicated relationship between local communities and national policies within the U.S.-Mexico borderlands.
“In Jung’s view, “the mass State” — his term for government and its structures — has “no intention of promoting mutual understanding and the relationship of man to man; it strives, rather, for atomization, for the psychic isolation of the individual.” Jung asserts that when we come to perceive “the other” as someone to be feared and shunned, we risk the inner cohesion of our society, allowing our personal relationships to become undermined by a creeping mistrust (Cantú p. 163).
Overall, The Line Becomes a River provides us with a unique look into the inner workings of how governmental policies affect communities along the borderlands and works to shed light on the amazing human stories often overlooked in larger discussions of immigration and border security. Through his introspective memoir, Cantú is able to dissect stereotypes and create a level of empathy towards migrants that classic academic examinations can never seem to accomplish. Cantú’s memoir is a powerful reminder of the importance of storytelling in creating compassion and desires readers to confront their existing conceptions of migrants and engage with the human realities behind immigration and border issues.
Reference
Cantú, F. (2018). The line becomes a river: Dispatches from the Mexican Border.
