The Line Becomes A River

The Line Becomes A River

Adult nonfiction
"Jose looked up at me. When you were on the border, he asked,
did you ever find drugs? Sure, I told him. More than you can
imagine...But mostly I arrested migrants, I confessed. People looking
for a better life."
When I went to suppers at the Wilson Center there were sometimes
displays centered around important social justice issues. The one I
recall most vividly was one made up of objects abandoned in the desert
by people attempting to cross the border from Mexico into the United
States without official documentation. They were collected by a group
of good Samaritans who go through the badlands, seeking to help
refugees survive--leaving jugs of water, giving out food, and
rendering medical assistance. The display consisted of mostly humble,
everyday items: a toothbrush, a tattered tee shirt, a photograph or
letter, an empty food can... The one that most grabbed my attention
was a toddler size ruffled shirt decorated with a Disney character. I
wondered if that baby had survived and found a safe place in which to
grow up.
I also wondered about the people who enforced the rules. What
kind of person could cut up water jugs in a place where death from
thirst is a constant danger? What would induce a human being to
enforce monstrous laws that return innocent people including children
to lives of poverty and peril? So I found Francisco Cantu's The Line
Becomes A River to be a fascinating read.
Cantu was an unlikely Border Patrol hire. His grandfather was a
Mexican immigrant. His mother couldn't understand why he'd chosen
that line of work, especially since he had a college degree. It was
higher education, however, that gave him that goal. After four years
of studying international relations, he felt that even though he
learned about the policy and history of the border, he didn't
understand the region.
"...I'm tired of reading about the border in books. I want to
be on the ground, out in the field. I want to see the realities of
the border day in and day out. I know it might be ugly, I know it
might be dangerous, but I don't see any better way to truly understand
the place."
The reality Cantu sees on the ground is a lot different from
what he gleaned from books and lectures. He takes readers with him on
patrol, candidly sharing details of his work. He's equally candid
with his growing disquietude, first manifested in nightmares.
And he is candid when an undocumented friend of his crosses the
border to be with his dying mother in Mexico and is jailed returning
to his wife and three sons. That's when he comes to regret his
complicity in the system.
If you want a better understanding of the tragedies caused by
our broken and abusive immigration system, you'll find The Line
Becomes A River to be a must read.
On a purrrsonal note, We had quite the storm last night: rain,
thunder, lightning. We even had a tornado warning. Tobago was one
scared cat. Today we're back to muggy. I'm very excited for my 31st
wedding anniversary tomorrow. (Jules).
It was too scary. The thunder was loud. The lightning looked like it
tore up the sky. (Tobago)
A great big shout out goes out to Eugene.
Tobago and Jules Hathaway


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