Francisco Cantu’s memoir on being a Border Patrol Agent
Francisco Cantu outlines his life as a Border Patrol agent in his memoir The Line Becomes a River. Cantu mentions accounts of his childhood and his implicit close relationship with his mother. The perspective that Cantu brings is a first-hand account of his actual experiences in this position. He mentions the relationships he formed with many of the immigrants and how, eventually, he got burned out from this job. Throughout the memoir, Cantu will bring up laws that went effect over the years and how they helped to form the border. Cantu mentions the outcomes of The Treat of Mesilla, and how the outcome led to “the first time in history, a person crossing north or south at any point along the line would see evidence of a boundary laid out upon the earth” (Cantu p.49). Evidence can be seen by the erection of 215 new iron monuments, the replacement of 43 original boundary markers, and “tiny obelisks reaching up toward the vast arc of the sky” (Cantu p. 49).
Additional tensions discussed by Cantu describe the retaliations brought about when a cartel member is the victim of a drug war killing. Dr. Hiram Munoz, chief forensic autopsy expert for the Tijuana homicide department was interviewed. “Cut out tongues meant the person talked too much, castration meant you either slept with or even looked at another cartel member’s woman, and decapitation was simply a statement of power. Munoz goes on to mention that in normal times, the dead were disappeared or dumped in the desert. Now they are executed and displayed for all to see, so that it becomes a war against the people” (Cantu p. 89).
Cantu brings up an interesting story about his mother and how she was ashamed of her Mexican heritage. Growing up, she was always told how lazy, messy, and a liar she was, all because she was Mexican. This carried over into her adult life. Her mindset did not change for the better after she realized that her father, who she had romanticized her entire life, was a simple family man that never strayed far from home. However, this was a learning opportunity for Cantu’s mother in that while working for the Park service, she realized that “people staying could serve to root people in a culture, to anchor them in a landscape” (Cantu p. 192).
In my opinion, memoirs could be considered primary sources. I believe this because the author is writing about their own experiences, therefore it is a primary source and similar to autobiography or a nonfiction narrative. While it is true that biases will exist in a personal memoir, since the authors personal ideas might creep into the writings, the same could be said for an academic treatment or journal discussing the border. The authors of those academic treatments will certainly creep their own biases into the writings. According to National Library of Medicine “bias can occur at any phase of research, including study design or data collection, as well as in the process of data analysis and publication” (Pannuci).
Cantú, F. (2019). The line becomes a river: Dispatches from the Mexican Border. Vintage.
Pannucci, C. J., & Wilkins, E. G. (2010, August). Identifying and avoiding bias in research. Plastic and reconstructive surgery. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2917255/#:~:text=In%20research%2C%20bias%20occurs%20when,and%20publication%20(Figure%201).
