The Devil's Highway

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2004

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Download PDF

Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1 – 3

Chapters 4-6

Chapters 7-9

Chapters 10-12

Chapters 13-16

Key Figures

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

Beta

Discussion Questions

Chapters 1 – 3 Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 1 Summary – The Rules of the Game

“There wasn’t enough fluid left in them to bleed” (5). This is the description of five men who stumble out of a mountain pass at the beginning of Chapter 1. Their faces are full of cactus spines. They have been lost for an indeterminate amount of time and are now walking, not for survival, but just to find a drink of water. The author describes their location in vague terms—they are south of the United States Air Force’s Barry Goldwater bombing range, having just left the Granite Mountains of southern Arizona. Through all of this cuts what is known as “The Devil’s Highway,” bisecting a region known as Desolation, which is a metaphor, but also a reality.

A brief history of Northward immigration from Mexico is given. The hostility of the land is reinforced by myth and legend. The Devil’s Highway is said to be haunted by white women carrying crosses, floating through the air, and the ghosts of Jesuits who were murdered after they came to convert the indigenous inhabitants of the desert.

The logistics of the Border Patrol are laid out, from the territory that they cover, to how they spend their days. They are typically conservative, tough, and territorial. They have an easy relationship with many of the people trying to cross the border. However, there are also rumors of Border agents extorting, raping, or even killing people caught trying to cross. The reader is introduced to the techniques used by Coyotes—the men who are paid to help people cross the border illegally—and the agents themselves.

The five men stumble into members of the Border Patrol. They say that behind them, at least seventeen—or as many as seventy, says another—people are dying. They beg for help. The agents will find fourteen men dead, and save twelve others. They have been waiting for a disaster for years, and fear that now it has finally come. The story of the people who died will come to be known as “Operation Broken Promise”.

Chapter 2 Summary - Veracruz

Chapter 2 opens with a summary of the financial difficulties faced by people in Veracruz. Things were in such dire straits that immigration to the north seemed preferable, despite the dangers. Because Mexico is a country that is wide at the top and narrow at the bottom, there is literally more opportunity—or at least, greater chances to explore—the farther north you go. This is where the coyotes like Don Moi enter the picture.

Don Moi worked for a firm of coyotes. Their job was to smuggle people across the border. He tells the Bautistas—the first members of the Wellton 26—that it will cost at least 20,000 pesos to get them across. This is a year’s salary for them. Then he says he can help them for only 13,000, if they’re willing to walk. They agree.

When people can’t pay, Don Moi directs them to his boss, a man named Chespiro. Chespiro is depicted as a sort of boogey man and loan shark. He loans people money, but at high interest rates. And Don Moi says that if someone cannot pay Chespiro, he cannot vouch for their safety. Or worse, if someone tries to disappear in America without paying Chespiro, he can’t vouch for the safety of the people they leave behind.

At the end of Chapter 2, Don Moi calls Chespiro and tells him that he has already signed up seven or eight people. The pages just before the end provide brief introductions to the people who have signed up to make the journey under Don Moi’s care. It has become clear that, for all their soft, persuasive words and grand promises, the Coyotes are no better than gangsters.

Chapter 3 Summary – The Coyote and the Chicken

The Mexican consular corps and the Border Patrol are at odds on many things; however, there is something that gives them a common cause: their absolute hatred of the Coyotes. This common ground allows them to make progress at times when cooperation is hard to come by.

At the Sasabe border is a sign that says: “For the Coyotes your needs are only a business and they don’t care about your safety or the safety of your family. DO NOT PAY THEM OFF WITH YOUR LIVES!!!” (55). The author claims that this sign is “The only thing Mexico is doing to try to stop them from crossing” (55). It pays lip service to a problem that the government apparently has little interest in solving.

The problem is complicated, it is true. The scope of the challenges surrounding immigration is so vast that it can hard to know how to even begin deconstructing it. Chapter 3 breaks down the history of border crossing, showing that now, more than ever, Coyotes are necessary, because the routes that are still available for crossing have grown increasingly treacherous.

Urrea examines the hierarchy underpinning that coyotes’ operation to try and understand what went wrong with the journey of the Wellton 26. The organization is run by a man in Phoenix named Luis Cerca, who is compared to Tony Soprano from the HBO show. His brother is Daniel Cerca (Chespiro). They employ two men nicknamed “El Moreno” and “El Negro.” It is a complicated operation with multiple levels of leadership. But the men at the top are insulated against the criminal activities of the lower level. When there are legal problems, it is always the Coyotes and recruiters who bear the consequences.

Chapters 1 -3 Analysis

By referring to “The rules of the game,” Urrea implies that there is a structure to a walk that can always be relied upon. However, this is only true insofar as both sides know the rules. The walkers know only what they Coyotes tell them. The guides are businessmen first, low-level gangsters who will sometimes ditch their “cargo” at the first sign of trouble. There are rules, but the rules are often broken, whether by unscrupulous men or as a result of natural calamities that no one can see coming. If crossing the border is a game, it is unfair to many of the players.

By giving the background of the Border Patrol, Urrea shows that there is little incentive for them to do their job well. In fact, depending on perspective, it is debatable what doing the job well even means. There are many indifferent people on both sides of the border. However, the men who stick to their principles at all costs are the criminals: they have a code, and anything that causes them to lose money results in cruelty and violence.

In the character of Don Moi, the reader sees an embodiment of everything that is wrong with the system. He is able to act without fear of reprisal, to prey on the hopes of credulous walkers, and he is backed by a massive, intricate criminal infrastructure that has little to fear from law enforcement or the government. It also has no reason to care about its clients, should things go wrong in the desert.