Review: The Devil's Highway by Luis Alberto Urrea
The Devil’s Highway
by Luis Alberto Urrea
In May of 2001, twenty-six men attempted to cross the border between Mexico and the United States, passing through a desert in Arizona so desolate and deadly that it’s known as the Devil’s Highway. On foot and woefully underprepared for the harsh conditions, the men were attempting the illegal crossing to better their lives in America. Instead, guided by a coyote inexperienced in the area, the men walked in circles until, one by one, they succumbed to dehydration and exhaustion and crumpled to their deaths. In the end, only a dozen men were saved.
Luis Alberto Urrea’s report of events is at times almost clinical, but it’s absolutely haunting. He profiles each man to the best of his ability - some of the men were never identified - and briefly explains why he was making the trip. Some men were seasoned workers who had been to the United States before; others were young teens, leaving their home village for the first time. One boy went to help his aging father; later, it is the father left holding his dead son in his arms. Collectively, the twenty-six men are just more cases to add to an ever-rising number of people who die crossing the border. But with each story, creating personalities and family relationships, they become real people, and the true weight of their deaths can be felt.
Urrea is sympathetic to both illegal immigrants and the border patrol tasked with keeping them out. Again and again, he shows the humane side of the officers, who pay to erect and stock water stations in the desert for migrants to use and rush into the desert when there are reports of dying men. Excepting a few bad eggs, they aren’t evil men seeking to punish the Mexicans - they’re just doing their jobs. Blame for the men’s fate falls squarely on the coyotes who led them into the desert without adequate supplies and then, upon realizing he was lost, first refused to turn back and ultimately abandoned his flock to their fates, looking only to save himself.
Reading this book is hard. Graphic descriptions of the way the body breaks down as it is dehydrated and cooked is simply horrific. Descriptions of the corpses and the pitiful effects they carried as they moved toward a new life in the United States are heartbreaking. The shocking amount of money the United States and Mexico spend on the bodies of the dead, flying them back to their villages in expensive coffins and with great ceremony, is mind-boggling. Why can’t some of this money be spent on the men while they’re alive?
Of course, the true tragedy is that this incident isn’t an isolated one. Hundreds of desperate people die each year making the same trek. Urrea doesn’t offer any solutions, because there is no easy answer, but he forces readers normally isolated from such events to look them full in the face and consider the true human cost of our current border policies.
5 out of 5 stars
To read more about The Devil’s Highway, buy it or add it to your wishlist click here.
Peeking into the archives...today in:
2014: Giveaway: Books from the Art World
2013: Happy Valentine’s Day!
2012: Vacation: Off to Disneyland for a few days!!
2011: The Demon in the Teahouse by Dorothy and Thomas Hoobler
2010: Discussion Question: Would you read it?
2009: The Dot and the Line by Norton Juster
by Luis Alberto Urrea
In May of 2001, twenty-six men attempted to cross the border between Mexico and the United States, passing through a desert in Arizona so desolate and deadly that it’s known as the Devil’s Highway. On foot and woefully underprepared for the harsh conditions, the men were attempting the illegal crossing to better their lives in America. Instead, guided by a coyote inexperienced in the area, the men walked in circles until, one by one, they succumbed to dehydration and exhaustion and crumpled to their deaths. In the end, only a dozen men were saved.
Luis Alberto Urrea’s report of events is at times almost clinical, but it’s absolutely haunting. He profiles each man to the best of his ability - some of the men were never identified - and briefly explains why he was making the trip. Some men were seasoned workers who had been to the United States before; others were young teens, leaving their home village for the first time. One boy went to help his aging father; later, it is the father left holding his dead son in his arms. Collectively, the twenty-six men are just more cases to add to an ever-rising number of people who die crossing the border. But with each story, creating personalities and family relationships, they become real people, and the true weight of their deaths can be felt.
Urrea is sympathetic to both illegal immigrants and the border patrol tasked with keeping them out. Again and again, he shows the humane side of the officers, who pay to erect and stock water stations in the desert for migrants to use and rush into the desert when there are reports of dying men. Excepting a few bad eggs, they aren’t evil men seeking to punish the Mexicans - they’re just doing their jobs. Blame for the men’s fate falls squarely on the coyotes who led them into the desert without adequate supplies and then, upon realizing he was lost, first refused to turn back and ultimately abandoned his flock to their fates, looking only to save himself.
Reading this book is hard. Graphic descriptions of the way the body breaks down as it is dehydrated and cooked is simply horrific. Descriptions of the corpses and the pitiful effects they carried as they moved toward a new life in the United States are heartbreaking. The shocking amount of money the United States and Mexico spend on the bodies of the dead, flying them back to their villages in expensive coffins and with great ceremony, is mind-boggling. Why can’t some of this money be spent on the men while they’re alive?
Of course, the true tragedy is that this incident isn’t an isolated one. Hundreds of desperate people die each year making the same trek. Urrea doesn’t offer any solutions, because there is no easy answer, but he forces readers normally isolated from such events to look them full in the face and consider the true human cost of our current border policies.
5 out of 5 stars
To read more about The Devil’s Highway, buy it or add it to your wishlist click here.
Peeking into the archives...today in:
2014: Giveaway: Books from the Art World
2013: Happy Valentine’s Day!
2012: Vacation: Off to Disneyland for a few days!!
2011: The Demon in the Teahouse by Dorothy and Thomas Hoobler
2010: Discussion Question: Would you read it?
2009: The Dot and the Line by Norton Juster