Border Patrol Ate My Dust Summary

Alicia Alarcón’s The Border Patrol Ate My Dust collectively organizes stories and experiences of immigrants from Mexico illegally entering the United States. Each story vividly describes the challenges and risks associated with attempting to cross the border. While each story is unique in relation to the distances traveled and various life backgrounds, a recurring topic in each anecdote is seen through each narrator’s paid help for a successful border crossing. The most common term used to identify people who helped Mexicans illegally enter the United States is coyote. Coyotes are employed by those seeking a better life in the United States who utilizes their services to increase chances of a successful entrance into America.
The authors of …show more content…
The delivery of payment to coyotes was absolutely essential in order to perform their services. Having failed to deliver full payment during the journey resulted in an increased terror for the people being smuggled. In Manuel’s story, part of the payment he owed was stolen from him in Tijuana. When Manuel failed to pay the remaining amount owed due to the event, the coyote immediately created a terrifying atmosphere for him and his sister. “This man is a coyote. He wants to rape my sister and he has threatened to send us back”. While Manuel was able to retrieve the money, the fact that the coyote had become so cruel due to the lack of payment represents how they are greedy, misogynistic, and immoral. The theme that reappears in the stories in this book explains how terrifying the journey was for women who were subjected to the sexual needs of the …show more content…
While greed and sexual exploitation recurs in the stories, coyotes were also represented as being impatient and unwilling to accommodate to their clients. Greedy coyotes transported people into the United States at the fastest possible rate in order to return to their place of origin so that they could be employed by another group seeking immigration. Their quick and fast paced method explains their impatient and mercurial temperament towards people they smuggled. For Iginia, her experience with a coyote explains the impatience and unwillingness to accommodate to her physical capabilities while being transported into the United States. The coyote she employed attempted to lift her and her niece over a fence into America, and after a painful struggle she was unable to do so. Having failed to successfully make it over the fence, the coyote was immediately impatient and angry. “Oh, well, then I guess you’re going to take the long way,” he replied angrily then took us to another place where we could walk across”. Having created an inconvenience for the coyote generated an unpleasant experience for her journey in the company of an easily aggravated man. Unfortunately, Iginia failed to reach the United States when the border patrol captured her and the coyote. After a frightful experience being detained by the border patrol, Iginia never attempted to cross the border