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This chapter focuses a lot on the history of the land that is what we call the Devil's Highway. It talks about the events that conclude the first ever recorded death on the highway, which was caused by the man accidentally getting stabbed by his own blade, and he died a slow and painful death. This chapter talks about the first ever illegal immigrants, who were the Chinese, and how they came for jobs (specifically railroad building), and how the Americans didn't want them in the country, as they feared the population would become predominantly Chinese. The chapter additionally talks about all the myths that come from the Devil's Highway, and how it is widely feared by so many people, native and non-native.

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This excerpt of the chapter describes the nightmares of the Devil's Highway with more of the border patrol as a part of it. It talks about an officer, Mike F, and the rumors and duties as a border patrol officer. It highlights the horrors from the authority's point of view, and instead of the fears being of the land, it's of other people. In addition, it talks about the slang that the border patrol uses for different states of being people are in, and refers to them many times as illegals, which dehumanizes them severely. Rape, getting beaten, molestation, and just hatred towards immigrants is rampant along the path. The 5 men who were lost are found by agent F, and the border patrol truly realizes the severity of the deaths on this trail. Overall this chapter focuses on fears of the Devil's Highway in terms of things that other people could do to you and not what the land beholds.

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This excerpt of the chapter focuses on the Devil's Highway from the aspect of the border patrol agents. Not only does it talk about the mapping of the land in the aspect of the freeways and roads, it also talks about the severe deaths that the agents see while out and about. It's disappointing how none of them care enough to file a case report for the dead bodies, and would instead leave them be. In addition, it talks about the equipment and gear that the agents use, and the inconveniences they face with things such as their trucks, which have been ill equipped. Since their station is in the middle of nowhere, the author also talks about the "entertainment" that the agents use to kill time, which usually consists of disturbing desert animals.

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This chapter talks about the drag, which are the horizontal marks that are made by tires dragged on trucks. Cutting the drag refers to the people who have to cross northward, and their footsteps show as they cut across the lines. In addition, methods of finding people used by the border patrol are talked about in this chapter, such as sensors, and using the nocturnal animals to their advantage. Patrol places the sensors near cacti with shrubs surrounding it, and it picks up any movement. They also used rocks and the sun to see if there was any movement.

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Veracruz is a city in which the poor economy leaves the residents poor. Don Moi, a fat and Americanized man who wears gold chains and lives lavishly, reels people in to travel to El Norte. He uses his image as a hook, and easily convinces people to travel to America via walking, as it is cheaper as opposed to driving (20,000 to 13,000 pesos). He is the coyote who facilitates the journey north for Reymundo Barreda and his son of the same name, Nahum Landa, Enrique Landeros Garcia, Reyno Bartolo Hernandez, and Mario Castillo Fernandez. All of these people were simply on their journey for a more comfortable life, which meant money. Chespiro, Don Moi's boss, is used as a security measure, as if the immigrants try to run off, he would come for their families.

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This chapter talks about the crossing of the border from the coyote's point of view. It talks about the hierarchy of the family business, that is what Don Moi is a part of. People like El Moreno, and Luis, are all part of the Cercas family, who runs the whole thing. Lower level positions such as the guides are really just dispensable to them, and they can just hire more as they die. It also talks about the openings that there are along the border, and how they're extremely popular. The best way to cross the border is via a van, but the catch is, if the person couldn't keep up with the unloading of all their things on said van, they'd be left behind to die in the scorching desert.

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This chapter discusses the walk from Mexico to the United States from the guia's (guide's) point of view. Unlike many other groups, the Wellton 26 were not given any drugs. Guias used to give their walkers cocaine to make them walk faster and longer, but nowadays they're given 8 straight up fat burner diet pills. It also talks about their salary and how much money they receive for each person that they walk across the border, and how appealing the job is for them because they can make a months salary with one walk. Mendez, (who goes by a slurry of other names) is the one who walked the Wellton 26, and he plays innocent when it comes to their deaths. The guias are the lowest level in the smuggling operation, and they don't care about their walkers, and the higher ups in the business also don't care if they die or live.

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This chapter delves into Jesus' life before he ends up walking the Wellton 26. He starts off as working in a brick factory, and his friend Maradona convinces him to become a coyote. The music he listened to had political undertones, and the appeal of being a gangster, and rebelling against the government was something he really just couldn't resist. Additionally, he thrived off of the feeling of being in control of his life, as he is no longer a nobody, and now has so many things he didn't have before. After a year of walking and continuously getting busted more and more often, they get transferred to another, and different bus line than what they are used to, and the story starts there.

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This chapter discusses the route that the immigration route that Mendez (Jesus) and Maradona have been demoted to, since they got caught too many times in the other, safer, route. Their main water tank along the route was compromised by immigration, and they really had nowhere that they knew where they could find water. The walkers take a bus to Sonoita, and they feel surrounded in luxury, with air conditioning, flushing toilets, and a sunroof. Based on this, they think the rest of the journey would be similar, but they don't know just how wrong they really are. From there, they get transferred to Nelly's safe house, however Don Moi, who promised to embark on the journey with them, was already on the way back at that point.

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This chapter talks about the morning of and the beginning stages of the walker's journey. Maradona ditched on Mendez, so he was already frustrated that he had to embark on the walk alone and he doens't really know the route. Santos and Lauros, two other men who were a part of the circuit (idiots), tell the walkers different things, from the time that they stop or start, among a number of other things. The group pays their fares and gets on the bus, and get dropped off in a random patch. They then get into another car and drove for a few hours. After walking, they realize that they're ahead of the clock by a couple of hours, and only one of the men was really dressed for their trek ahead. Early is not great because they have to stay in the heat a lot longer, and after the candy and sodas, it would make the walkers sick. The irony of this chapter is that the walkers thought of their life threatening migration as a hiking trip, and bought the pepsi's in order to celebrate, however they don't realize the true danger of their trip.

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This chapter goes through the walk that the walkers go through, and Mendez being a not so great leader for them. They had an inccident where they had a bunch of flashing lights pointed at them, and to this day nobody knows exactly what happened. The walkers had already been experiencing mirages and hallucinations, so their accounts really couldn't be very factual. They imagined that they had gone through a ghosted city, when in fact there was no way that they could have possibly gone there. Mendez walked in an arc going left, as his right leg was more powerful than his left, leading the group west instead of North, which was a huge problem, unbeknownst to them. Mendez's incompetence and bad steps would cost the walkers their lives.

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This chapter talks about the true severity of the Devil's Highway. It goes through stories of just how easy it is to die there, and people can die in a matter of a few hours. While factors such as fitness, hydration, and others are influential, at the end of the day, the desert takes their lives. The group begins to cycle though the phases of hyperthermia, which include heat stress, heat fatigue, heat syncope, heat cramps, heat exhaustion, and heat stroke. Mendez's idiocy is shown when he makes more mistakes, in addition to the slurry of errors he had made before. He and the group start far too early in the morning, which meant that they had to bake in the sun for a couple more hours earlier than they should, which sped up their heat death process.

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In this chapter, the group literally just gets gradually more lost, and Mendez's idiocy is shown yet again. He walks them in loops, and the heat is affecting his ability to make important decisions. This chapter talks about the opportunities to salvation that they missed, and the fact that there were 7 chances for them to find rest and water that they missed is frustrating. Mendez is literally just herding them around, and it starts to show how little he cares for the group, and focuses only on himself living. Some of them realize that they only way that they would make it out alive was so trace their steps back to mexico, and about 5 of them joined Santos's group trekking back, who were never found.

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This chapter talks about what exactly happens before the men decide that they want to embark on their journey. It talks about their destination, their motives, and the life they lived before going to America. I feel like this chapter was included so that the reader can thoroughly understand that these are real people. A lot of readers don't necessarily see that these "characters" are actual people that have experienced these horrors, and adding other aspects of their lives adds to their human-ness, and really shows that they're just people. This chapter humanizes them, and can make their stories more understandable and relatable to the audience.

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This chapter highlights the states of being and all the perspectives of the events that happened. Mendez said that the group donated money for him to get them water, while the group says that he stole from them. The accounts of the individuals themselves is difficult to piece together and figure out which aspects is factual because all members are in the process of dying via hyperthermia, and they can't agree on a set answer. After leaving and promising that he would return, him and Lauro set out on their own, and ditch the group. The group, left behind, fully realizes that they had left them, and they attempt to keep on walking, and while that happens, the hallucinations get worse.

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This chapter talks about the deaths of the majority of the group as they are literally cooking in the desert sun. They had the idea to start a fire to signal for help, but after nobody came, they really had no hope. Two of them were saved because they had found prickly pear cacti in the area and drank them. Many of the others went insane, yelling things and hallucinating. They started getting rid of all of their belongings as more and more of the group died, and some of them started ripping up american money. One of them took off all of his clothes before laying down in the sand and napping to death, which was because at the final stages of hyperthermia, anything touches the skin hurts, so he neatly folded his clothes and laid to die.

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Mendez, walking with Lauro, had made it incredibly far from the group, and incredibly close to salvation. Lauro however, died, and laid down beneath a bush as Mendez passed out. The men finally get help from La Migra, as agent Mike F spots them. Unfortunately, some of them die right as they are rescued, and even Mendez is rescued by the signcutters. It was really heartbreaking how they died just as salvation and safety was in their grasp. Those who made it out alive are gotten to safety, and drank water, along with saline IV. This leaves the border patrol struggling to piece together this entire tragedy.

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Chapter 15: Aftermath Part 1 (pg 179-186)

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Chapter 15: Aftermath Part 1 (pg 179-186)

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Millions of dollars are spent every year on medical care for illegal immigrants, and the number seems to be rising, even as more money is spent on border patrol.This chapter talks about how the men fare in the hospital. There are a number of news reporters, interviewers, and cops, which make then men meek.  While being interviewed, they know enough to not snitch on the Cercas family, however they have no problem blaming the whole thing on Mendez, and they are happily making him pay as they spill more information about how he left them. In addition, they don't want revenge on El Negro, or Chespiro, because they were able to have their families on them, but they truly wanted revenge on Mendez.

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Chapter 15: Aftermath (Part 2 pg 186-193)

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Chapter 15: Aftermath (Part 2 pg 186-193)

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While Rita Vargas is doing everything in her power to get the men safe and sound, Mendez is getting prosecuted. He writes a pathetic letter to try and defend himself, but things really aren't looking too good for him. The men who died were transported back home in body bags, and the chapter briefly delves into what they would have wanted. Now, they can rest, and they're brought back into Mexico to be examined. This was really the only peaceful reunion that they could have had together, and it's painful that they had to wait until their were dead.

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The men are returned home to Veracruz in coffins and a giant plane. The money that it cost solely to fly them home was over $68,000. Vargas questioned why this money wasn't put into the villages themselves so that this ordeal wouldn't have to repeat itself again and again. The government has a huge parade and celebration for the return of their heroes, when in reality it was a cover up for the fact that they really didn't care about their people, because they wouldn't have had to leave if the society that they were in was sufficient enough for them. Meanwhile, Mendez sits in jail waiting for his trial, and at first he tries to address all of the charges against him. Astonishingly, the morning of the trial, Mendez admits to all of the charges because he wanted to stay alive.

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The men are given jobs in meat packing plants so that they'd never have to be in the hot sun ever again. This event made the relationship between the mexican and american borders better, however, after 911 hit, the border security tightened up once again. Border agencies were once more made to work together to limit immigration like before. Because of this, the border is again filled with coyotes waiting to prey upon walkers. This chapter talks about what the border patrol agents see when out on the field, and the gruesomeness of the atrocities that they witness. Different speculations are argued over what happens to all of the dead people are still argued over to this day.

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After the Wellton 26, new safety additions are added in the Yuma sector of the desert. Things such as life saving towers, and shelter are established in the most common path that immigrants tread on. Surprisingly, these things are paid for by the border patrol agents themselves. Unfortunately, some people were severely against these strokes of genius, and vandalized water stations or poisoned them. This chapter also goes into the money that Mexican immigrants bring and take from the american economy. At first, the numbers are shown as each person costing the country $55,000 as they stay for a lifetime, but as the number is broken down, it really doesn't seem like much. The amount of money the immigrants spend and bills and products that they buy stimulate the economy, and in the end, they end up benefiting the country more than they do harm it.

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This "chapter" is the author himself reflecting on his process of writing this book and how the times have changed. This chapter takes place 10 years later, and discusses border topics that are widely divisive today. He talks about the usage of the word "illegal" and how it alienates humans from other humans. In addition, he writes about the border crisis today. While stations such as Wellton have gone up in number of agents, heinous crimes are still committed at the border. Treatment of women, drugs, and violent crimes are talked about, and how they probably wont stop anytime soon.

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This chapter talks about the author's personal experiences and thoughts about the border. It is revealed that there isn't an actual federal law that is actively against illegal immigration, and it was really just the equivalent to a speeding ticket. He also talks about Don Moi coming back to the village in an attempt to get revenge on the widows of the walker, but they beat him up until he ran away. He mentions his bittersweet relationship with the border, and also talks about how there isn't a real border, and that it's something that we have been conditioned to think. The book actually ends on a happy note, as it is discovered that Reymundo Sr's nephew contacted the author and became an established professor.