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History: Many people have different beliefs as to why the Devil's Highway is so-called "cursed". Some people believe it is the work of the Gods, others with ideas of "La Llorona, and El Chupacabra" roaming and haunting the area. One thing is for sure is that this section of land has been killing people for centuries. The first recorded death occurred in 1541 and many many more to come over the centuries.

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In this section of Chapter 1, we read about the 5 men finding a border control agent by luck. One of the men walks towards the border patrol agent (Mike F.), and desperately tries to explain that they need water and that 27 more of them also need water but are behind them in terms of the trail. After reporting, the Wellto center knew this was going to be a big deal as he even references it as an "apocalypse". We then get an insight into the many things that happen to people when caught by border patrol, many of things including the harassment of the person, whether through a beating, verbally, and in the worst case, rape.

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Border Patrol: In this part of chapter one, we see an insight on the lives of those who work to catch and even at times save those crossing the Devil's Highway. We learn that most of the people working border patrol are Hispanic as they need to speak Spanish to try to communicate with those they catch. Although they try to just do their job, they still get hate from essentially every side of politics and race. Some even having to forcefully try to get themselves out of bed as they are just traumatized from the deaths they have seen. Throughout the lonely and tiresome days they have, they try to liven things up by trying to have fun whenever they have. Even joking and messing around with those they end up catching.

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In this final section of chapter 1 we get insight in the minds of the border patrol that saved the Wellton 26. We know that it is called the "26" as 14 died, and 12 survived. There is a sense of lingering hate for the Yuma station as they got all the credit even though the Welton station id all the rescuing of the survivors as well as dealing with the corpses. After this little part we learn about the tactics that the border control uses. They use lines called drags where thy can spot differences in the lines therefore telling the that someone had crossed through. They also use mine sensors that lets them know if someone walked over the section. Then they radio to that section to see if the person patrolling the section had seen the illegals or not.

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Veracruz is a state in Mexico that is in an economic state of poverty. Don Moi is a coyote who is rounding up people to take on a smuggle into the US, later known as the Wellton 26. He rounds the people in by exemplifying his "Rich, American" lifestyle. He does this with his coffee, rings, watches, belly, and new American Dodge Ram. The people he has reeled into so far agree to pay 13,000 pesos instead of 20,000 as they will walk. The people consisting of, the Bautista Boys, Reymundo Jr and Sr, Nahum Landa, Enrique Landeros Garcia, Reyno Bartolo Hernandez, and Mario Castillo Fernandez. Each one agreeing to take out loans to pay for their trip, some being threatened to pay once they get in the US as their families are vulnerable.

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The US border has many flaws when it comes to their system. Some of the signs used to warn the people about the coyotes are signs that will not make sense to most the people trying to cross. We also find out the reason why many of the entries now used are used. This is as the old entries that were easier to sneak into, are now heavily patrolled with agents stations only half a mile from each other, each one in sight of the next. Leaving only the more difficult entries to be available. Next we get an insight to the Human Trafficking rings, many being family operated. In the book we learn that a sister is controlling things in Arizona, and Don Moi is the gatherer of the "chickens". Then the brothers and other family as well each have their own part of getting the people to the border. Where then guides take them off of the family members hands and try to transport them to a pickup point on the highway across the border. At the pickup point it is known that if you are too slow or ill, then they will leave you there on the side of the highway to fend for yourself.

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Guides: We learn about the guides and the details of the jobs that they precede. The guides are paid from $100-$150 per head they deliver across the border. Some even give many drugs to the pollos to speed up the process of them walking. One of the many drugs is cocaine. The guide leading the Wellton 26 is Antonio Lopez Ramos, his two known alias being Mendez and Jesus. Antonio while in court makes himself appear different from the other guides. He represents himself as a tragedy and that he cared and never intended for the whole incident to happen. When in reality many pollos get left behind to die every day by their guides. We then learn about some of the conditions people face when being driven, some being locked in the trunk if they paid less, and even a story about a man being strapped to an engine block.

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In the tapes that they saw, we read about the survivors in the hospital being questioned by the police despite being disoriented. The only thing the police acquire is Mendez in the coyote. Mendez or "Jesus" is trying to play himself as a victim as he tries to explain that he was lured into the business by the other coyotes who painted the job as a beautiful job where you get a great payout. He also tries to play himself as a victim of his situations and conditions. We also learn about some more of the early journey that Maradona and Jesus had.

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In this chapter we learn more about the border situation and the history of Maradona and Mendez. At the border we have two sides, religion and sin. Churches want to have the people wanting to migrate to come find hope in the Church and navigate to become missionaries, priests, etc... Then we have those who are sinful. The border is full of places of sin like strip clubs, bars, drugs, "nudie" bars, anything among those you can find with ease at the border towns. Mendez and Maradona are technically "demoted" as they used to have an easier and shorter route they took care of. This changed due to their dumb nature allowing them to get caught multiple times and are transferred to the Devil's Highway. The Wellton 26 being one of the first groups they take which proves to be a fateful error. As they have little to no knowledge about the route, even their water supply being compromised.

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Mendez wakes up and is seemingly irritated by the noisy town. This is as he wake sup hungover and we can tell that the day is just not going to go good. He goes to get el Maradona. After trying to get a hold of him, he couldn't and had to replace him with two others who didn't know the route. He goes to Nelly's on a bus and tells the people to get prepared and to go buy water, some bought Pepsi's as well thinking it would quench their thirst. They then got in a bus ride and stopped in the middle of nowhere. They then wait for a van and get picked up by a Silver Dodge Ram or reported by others a Ford Bronco. They arrive early and wait for a bit. Mendez then decides that they can start heading early and they head out a few hours early.

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The group starts their journey throughout the desert. They use the terrain to their advantage. Hiding in the valleys and bushes to rest and drink water, knowing that the border patrol agents would not climb to chase them. By the time they are at the Bluebird pass, they are well into the night. Mendez apparently sees a light and gets scared thinking it's the border patrol agents. After yelling "La Migra", they all run and scurry into the dark dropping many valuable items. they hide in bushes and it starts to rain, leaving them to only shoulder the weather. After awhile they start to walk again. Mendez now knowing where he is heading, now starts to confidently walk in a direction that he is not even sure of. Later on Signcutters tell us that they knew that Mendez did not know where he was heading by the way he walked, and that he was even slightly heading Northwest, not just North by his footprints. By the end of the night, they had walked about 40 miles, most of it in the night, only journeying into the morning where the sun and its heat will greet them.

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In this chapter the men start to understand the idea that they are lost. Although this is true, Mendez does not want to admit this one bit. We then get backstory on the desert, one a story of a couple going on a dune buggy and end up dying who knows how long later although they were just out for a bit and were told that they would return soon. The other of a story of a couple going to a peak of a hike to only find themselves at their demise. After we learn about the many stages that one experiences when they are about to die in the desert. These steps consisting of Heat Stress, the beginning of becoming dizzy, tired, sunburned, and swollen fingers. Heat Fatigue, warm and wet spots, essentially becoming a big swamp cooler. Everything burns and you have a dry mouth with your lungs now leaking moisture. H?eat syncope, fever, your skin gets cold, talking is hard, and your essentially begging for water. Heat cramps, your body now has no salt, everything begins to ache and cramps are kicking in. Heat exhaustion, fever is now spiking, skin is icy causing you to shiver, blood and oxygen are having troubles trying to travel like a dying engine failing to regulate. You are confused and have absolutely no sense of direction. Heat stroke, your blood is low, your innards are now just sluggish mud-holes, heart tries to pump harder and harder to get fluid and oxygen but fails. You have no sweat left, your skin becomes insanely irritable and even the feeling of clothes feels like pins and needles. Your muscles begin to feed on yourself, as you then start to die as your brain and heart spark out.

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Mendez is absolutely lost at this point, the cutters even point out that his trail at one point made a 45-degree cut forming a "V", and another creating a giant "U" that spans 20 miles. Everyone is becoming frustrated and irritated as they have been walking for many days and at this point run out of water. Santos, another coyote, gets into an argument with Mendez and decides that he's going to retrace their tracks and walk back in the hope of salvation. 3-5 follow Santos, unfortunately, this group is no longer heard from again, as almost they have just dissipated into thin air. Mendez is very cruel to those following him, the rest at night, only with the morning sun coming to greet them with a blistering Kiss of Death.

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In this chapter we get the backstory of many of the men. We learn how many of the people who were on the trip planned to reel in others with them but at last minutes thankfully decided to not. I believe the reason why the men's backstory was included was to represent the idea that the men all had their own lives. That each and every one of them were human and were now being put through this unimaginable hell due to their ideas that the U.S was a place where they would prosper and live a better life.

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The men that have survived give each a different account of what had happened in the story when Mendez left the men to die. Some account of him taking the money, some stealing, some saying Mendez forced him. Mendez trying to paint himself as the good guy argued he asked for money and the me complied as he set out to find the men water and a ride. This was not true of course as Mendez and Lauro, the other guide has basically just robbed the men of their money and their salvation. The men waited the 5 hours they had been told to wait for the guides to come back with water and a ride. This of course did not happen and the delirious men decided to set out on foot despite their conditions. The men left, each one of them having their own hallucinations. Some dreaming of a beach, others of their women, and some even of killing Mendez for what he had done to them. Mendez and Lauro, on the other hand, were just making excuses for leaving the group behind, that they were too slow and that they were the only hopes but even with the whole process they believed that if they did go back, the whole group would be dead by then. Making the whole effort wasteful.

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The men ad reached the pinnacle of torture and were starting to drop like flies. A man who was not named was said to scream and run to the top of a hill and smash his head on a cactus. Some other men took off their clothes due to the imaginable pain they felt with it on and neatly placed it and laid on the ground only to be baked to death. Another digging himself half into the ground and dies by being baked by the dun yet again. The men who can still complain gather brushes and light a fire for a single in the night. Some complaining for a cigarette. Reymundo Jr. dies in his father's arm, Reymundo Sr. being so distraught, walks himself into the sun. Into his own death. We then are given Nahum Landa's report, it follows almost as a poem, and the chapter ends.

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A group of 5 men, of those who were abandoned set out to hope to find somebody because "They were dying". These men were somehow miraculously still walking and alive, unfortunately one of them died at the top of a hill, Efrain. Mendez and Lauro were walking about 40 miles when Lauro falls and finds out his legs won't work anymore. His legs have failed him and he later is found dead. Mendez being the jerk he is, takes the money Lauro had and continues. Within 10 minutes of the border patrol finding the men trying to find help, they were in full operation and were out to save these men. A report even stating that they had a total of 26 flat tires, some men even riding on the rims in hopes of making it on time. Then men who were found dead consist of Efrain, Reyno Bartolo, Enrique Landeros, Abraham Morales Hernandez, Lorenzo Ortiz Hernandez, Claudio Alejandro Marin, Lauro, Arnulfo Daldilla Flores, Mario Castillo Fernandez, Reymundo Jr, Reymundo Sr, and unfortunately dying at the sight of his final hope, Edgar Adrian Martinez.

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Chapter 15: The Aftermath (Part 1: p.179-186)

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Chapter 15: The Aftermath (Part 1: p.179-186)

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In the beginning, we are given statistics of the money it costs for the hospital to treat the men who try and fail. The men who were still alive awoke in their hospital beds. Some getting glimpses of people in masks veering at them as they were treated. Once awake the men were questioned constantly, each one being questioned about the people they were trying to find and if they knew someone who veered them into this journey. One of the men even finding this whole situation funny and was just giggling as the whole situation was just funny to him. Rita Vargas a female consultant and I believe detective, was one of the many people there questioning the men to try to crack what had happened. When being questioned they did not snitch on the Cercas gang or any of the key figures in the gang, but they all dropped a hint at Mendez. The officers slowly went survivor to survivor, only building their case against Mendez.

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The men are listed as criminals and each have guards outside their rooms, the press was banned from the hospital. Rita Vargas is trying to help the Wellton 26, those dead and those who are alive. Mendez is now in a dicey situation, he tries to plead to the court with a letter. He tells them about his sob story and that he had no intentions of abandoning the men of even in essence killing the men. He wanted to help the men, not to end up killing them. The court objects this plead with prior history and evidence and statements from the witnesses. We learn about the men and how they are being transported back to their homes. Rumors stating that if you listened, you can hear them whispering, "We are going home".

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The men are being sent home, accompanied by Rita Vargas. They are greeted by the governor and a huge welcoming from the city. Essentially trying to save face, doing so spending money to hide the true corrupt government. Rita Vargas does the calculation in her hotel that night and finds that it cost $68,000 total to transport the men home, she ponders the idea of what if it was spent to improve their homeland instead. She is left with the question, "If the government had invested in their state, would the men be dead still?". She was tired and disgusted but could not sleep at all. Mendez is feeling great despair as he knows it is over. He is then enlightened with the argument that it was the border patrol's fault. El Negro in the U.S, now being investigated, hightailed it into Mexico, he does so in fashion essentially flipping off America. In the court, Mendez surprised everyone by pleading guilty. He came to the decision that being in jail for at least 16 years would have been better than getting executed 14 times. He also refused to talk to any official about the gang he was affiliated with as he was scared for his loved ones if he were to snitch.

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Then men are given a meatpacking job while Mendez is now in jail. One of the men has nerve damage to his extremities and can't necessarily feel when he damages his hands. In one situation he was burning his hand and didn't notice until someone noticed for him. The relations between Mexico and the U.S were strengthening with Fox and Bush coming into contact and making deals. Then the disastrous event of 911 hit and all contact was essentially cut off. As everyone was on edge to even let people into the U.S. This led to the border being tightened and patrolled even more. The border to this day still continues with atrocities, men dying, people being raped, killed, tortured all across the border. Chris Eggle a great man was gunned down chasing some serial killer. Susana Flores a 13-year-old girl, tortured and raped suffered 4 heart attacks before a merciful gun was put to her skull and ended her life. Two men left to die in the trunk of a car after a chase and never noticed until the stench of their dead bodies was discovered. All of these tragedies happen daily on the devious border. Death, torture, slavery, rape, abuse, abductions, etc...

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The deaths of the Yuma 14 are something that the Yuma and Wellton stations will forever remember. Never wanting to get that much blood on their hands again, they make changes. They set up camps in the desert, towers to save survivors and stations, the cost coming out of their own pockets. Tuscon, without change, racks up deaths in the hundreds, while Yuma lowers it to a seasonal of 9 deaths. This act of kindness is unfortunately looked down on by politics, environmentalists, liberals, and many more. Their argument is that these illegals cost the U.S $55k total per person. Urrea after showing this proves that statistics are just numbers with each their own story. As when he does the numbers, it shows that the average immigrant will contribute much more than just $55k in their lifetime. This issue still is relevant in today's politics. We are then shifted to s story of a woman trying to find a person. The chief tells her that they have him but he's just on a slab dead. The woman now is crying and the chief tries to cheer her up and explains how death is so common that they have just become desensitized to death.

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In this chapter, we are given insight into Luis Alberto Urrea and the border situation after a decade. We learn that "everything" has changed. Well, this is true at least in the Yuma and Wellton area. The BP agents have been increased in that area and now catch around 100 a week. He examines the use of the word "illegal" and is infuriated with himself on how he used this word. This is as he feels like there is a negative connotation with this word. He also talks about how at first the BP and himself didn't have a great bond, but as the years went on they formed great bonds and still keep in touch, with other agents even reaching out to him. Luis lets us know that the border situation has not gotten better, many of the things that happened on the border are still going on, with the narco gangs only growing more infamous and powerful. Some of them even create a cycle of profit, where they kidnap the kids who are going with their mother into the U.S and beat the mother. The mother is then forced to pay a fee to keep her kids alive in an extermination house where they are tortured. Many of these kids are being forced into unimaginable situations, especially the poor girls who are forced into worse. This goes on with unfortunately many families not seeing each other ever again, tying back to the word, "illegal". As they are "illegal" no one will listen, no one will help, no one will care.

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In this final section of the book, we are given many accounts of stories Alberto received due to the book he wrote. The first one being ironic as it accounts of the wristband with a "WWJD?" metaphor on it. The irony coming in when one is a minutemen hunting down the immigrants while the other is handing out water to immigrants who are in need. Another story being a sadder story of a girl who left her homeland after she saw a man get his neck slit and the blood splattering all over her, mentally scarring her. Although there was many bad things, there were many good things to come out of this book. One example being the bonds Alberto and the border patrol people have created. Finally we are given an account from the nephew of Reymundo Sr. He did not want to have his name out there but he states that he also took the same path and was successful. Also informing Alberto that he was thankful as the family did not know what had happened to Reymundo Jr. & Sr. As it provided closure and was better knowing than not knowing. He went on to get a PhD and study abroad, and then became a well known professor. He then states, " I want the world to know what one 'wetback' can accomplish if given a chance". (p.235) The author then goes on to gives his thanks by saying God Bless to essentially almost everyone in the book, leaving us with the question of WWJD?