The Devil's Highway Analysis

4 September 2013
The Devil’s Highway: A True Story
In The Devil’s Highway by Luis Alberto Urrea, the Mexican illegal immigrants are automatically portrayed as villains once they cross the border. When it comes to immigration, the United States government focuses on border control due to the abundance of illegal immigrants who enter and reside in the United States.Many think that Mexicans who cross the border illegally choose their suffering and pain. However, as demonstrated in the true story, many tragic factors such as the Mexican Government, the United States Government, and the Coyotes and gangsters contribute to the illegal immigration from Mexico to the United States.
In The Devil’s Highway Urrea makes it clear that the illegals
Thence, in all this chaos of poverty
One of them is the Mexican Government who doesn’t do anything to help its poor citizens. Then, it’s the gangsters and coyotes that lure the illegals in and lead a corrupt system of human smuggling in Mexico. In addition, what also contributes to the hot topic of illegal immigration is the poor quality of enforcing immigration law on the border by both the United States and Mexico. Furthermore, another factor is the United States portraying the illegal Mexicans as a burden when they are really not .We can see that the fault is on each side of the border, both sides are fueling the conflict of illegal immigration and not putting it out. As Consul Flores Vizarra said “it isn’t the desert that kills immigrants. It isn’t Coyotes. It isn’t even the Border Patrol ‘What kills the people,’ he says, ‘is the politics of stupidity that rules both sides of the border’” (Urrea 215). Thus, not one side is to blame, not one side is at fault but rather two sides of the border contribute to the faults of illegal