The Devil's Highway: A True Story

This is an intense, disturbing, horrifying, and yes, thought provoking true story of migration to the United States from Mexico. A must read if you ask yourself why this whole immigration issue is so complicated. ( )

This book recounts a May 2001 disaster in which three guides led a group of at least 26 immigrants illegally across the Mexico-US border on a route called the Devil's Highway. A guide familiar with the route had stayed home; his partner asserted leadership of the group, got lost, and then made a series of mistakes, all the while denying that he was lost and telling the men that they had just a few more hours of walking. The party ran out of water and at least half of the party cooked to death in 108 degree heat before an American border guard found some of them and called in a rescue operation. After a media-circus prosecution, the surviving guide was sentenced to 16 years in prison; no formal punishment seems to have been visited on the bosses behind the smuggling operation.

Based on a year of research, including documents and interviews, The Devil's Highway brings the immigrants' personal stories into focus, and also offers a window into the Border Patrol. For those elements, it's a worthwhile read. It doesn't propose any solutions to the broader problem of illegal immigration, although, to a point, the story suggests that trying to stop it is mostly futile and will inevitably lead to pointless tragedies such as these deaths. The actual sequence of mistakes and bad choices that killed half the party (and could easily have killed them all) would not have been hard to avoid, but as part of the shadow economy, this industry (smuggling people across the border) doesn't operate with liability, safety regulations, or any of the internalized processes that help prevent disasters.

One weakness of the book is the author's tendency to overwrite, to pump drama and hard-bitten attitude into aspects of the story that don't need it - for example, early in the book, the account of the first white man to die in this desert. It didn't actually happen in the desert and it doesn't add anything to the story. I found the understated details much more moving -- introducing early on a list of the 'John Does' with their (few) possessions (belt buckle, letter, tattoo), and then later, without making a big deal out of it, slipping in those contents while telling the immigrants' backstories. ( )

A fascinating and well researched account of a group of men on an economic pilgrimage to the U. S. They were lead by a young, poorly trained, and poorly equipped guide (Coyote) working for an unscrupulous business. The story provides great insight into the policy, methods, and caring attitudes of several U. S. and Mexican government and non governmental organizations as well as the origins and motivations of the pilgrims. ( )

This was a hard read due to the graphic nightmarish description of the relentless walk that a group of illegal Mexican immegrants took. Though I found it relentless and without much bigger picture intially, I was engaged in the story. The end offered more, in terms of the rescue and hosptial care of the survivors, the care and expense of returning the no-survivors, and the effectiveness of building rescue towers that have since decreased these kinds of deaths.

I say, read if you really want to know what it is like for these folks as they walk though the 110 degree desert endelssly, and if you want to understand that the US hospital system really does care for these folks when they pick them up, and that successful preventative measures have been taken, successfully, since this tragedy. ( )

Reviewed by Nohemi (Class of 2014)

“We’re lost. No, we’re not. Mendez says we’re not lost.” Imagine being lost in the middle of the desert, with no water or food, walking in over 100 degree weather, your insides cooking themselves, no shade whatsoever, just imagine knowing that you were going to die soon.
The Devil’s Highway, a true story written by Luis Alberto Urrea, gives a vivid image of how horrible and difficult it was for the 26 Mexicans who tried to cross the desert to the United States for a better life for themselves and their loved ones. The author describes how life in Mexico is very hard and different. The author wrote the book with so much detail, I actually felt that I was one of the poor Mexicans crossing through the desert, feeling the way they felt. This true story happened in May 2001, when 26 Mexicans ready for something new and better, wanted to live the American Dream. But only 12 out of 26 survived. Jesus Lopez Ramos known as Mendez, the leader of the group, tells them that it will only take two days to go through part of the desert known as The Devil's Highway; it’s called this because of how many lives it has taken, how it plays with you, and tortures you. “… A vast graveyard of unknown dead… the scattered bones of human beings slowly turning to dust… the dead were left where they were to be sepulchered by the fearful sand storms that sweep at times over the desolate waste” (Urrea 12). As they walk they were acting pretty confident, and saying that it wasn’t so bad, but later on, the group was in a dangerous and bad situation. One by one, they each slowly start to die. The immigrants have no choice but to keep on walking, hoping that they will make it to the United States or at least try to catch the Migras attention, to be saved. They didn’t care if they got deported back to Mexico, all of them just wanted to get out of The Devil’s Highway.
I really enjoyed reading this book because of how detailed the author explained everything. From the first page of the book, I was hooked. It really grabbed my attention which surprised me because this book didn’t really seem very interesting. I would rate this book 4 stars out of 5; I definitely recommend this book for others to read. ( )