The Line Becomes a River: A Perspective from within La Migra

Francisco Cantú’s The Line Becomes a River highlights the nuances of the United States Border Patrol. Cantú, who had studied international relations in college, chose to become an agent in order to get a firsthand account of the realities of the borderlands (2018, 22–23). His perspective offers a unique insight into the Mexico-United States border, one that provides an individual view of how border policy at the national level is carried out at the local level. It also shows how the agency itself, although part of a larger policing-complex, presents an opportunity for individuals to make a living and experience social mobility. The first part of my assessment of Cantú’s memoir will focus on the experiences of the author as an agent in the Border Patrol; the second will focus on José’s story as an undocumented worker in the United States.

The experiences that Cantú has working for the Border Patrol presents a conflicting view of the agency itself. On one hand, the author shows the personal, individual interactions the agents have with migrants, but on the other, it also shows the biases and dehumanizing actions they commit. The interaction that Cantú and Morales have with the men they arrest from Oaxaca shows a personal experience. “For a short time we stood together with the men, laughing and eating, listening to their stories of home” (51). In contrast, after finding discarded backpacks in the field, Cantú writes, “Cole [a supervisor] had us dump the backpacks and I watched as several of my classmates ripped and tore at the clothing, scattering it among the tangled branches of mesquite and palo verde… Nearby, Hart giggled and shouted to us as he pissed on a pile of ransacked belongings” (28). The first quotation shows that agents could have amiable experiences with the migrants; the second quotation shows that the agents utilized their positions to degrade the belongings of migrants. By destroying and desecrating those things, it exposes the agents’ dehumanization of the migrants. This conflicting view is recurring throughout the book. It is an exploration of the author’s conflicting views of the agency.

José’s story represents Cantú’s exposure to the other side of the migrant story. José, who becomes good friends with Cantú, is arrested after attempting to reenter the United States after visiting his ailing mother (178). Despite living in the country for decades, José was slated to be deported to Mexico. José’s attorney Walter states, “[a] lot of people in the immigration system lose sight of people’s humanity… The Border Patrol agents, the marshals I see here day in and day out, they objectify these people all the time (187).” Cantú, upon listening to this writes “I clenched my jaw, not wanting to reveal myself” (187). He realizes that he was once a part of the very system that is working against his friend.

Cantú’s book did not come without criticism. Critics stated that his role in a “paramilitary force” made him complicit and a “sellout” (Romero 2018). They argue that his voice drowns out the voices and experiences of those who are undocumented. In response, he states, “[m]y aim was to describe the Border Patrol from within, not justify it somehow” (Romero 2018). Regardless, The Line Becomes a River conveys the perspectives of an agent in the Border Patrol at the individual level. His work has opened up a dialogue on border policy and migration.

References

Cantú, Francisco. The Line Becomes a River: Dispatches from the Border. New York: Riverhead Books, 2018.

Romero, Simon. “Border Patrol Memoir Ignites Dispute: Whose Voices Should Be Heard From the Frontier?” New York Times, May 2018. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/19/us/francisco-cantu-border-patrol.html