Analysis Of The Devil's Highway By Luis Alberto Urrea

Throughout history, humans have always been afraid of anything and anyone unlike their culture. Even in the twenty-first century, there is heated debate surrounding illegal immigration in America; some believe that illegal immigrants from Mexico are stealing jobs and harming the economy. These irrational fears are discussed in Luis Alberto Urrea’s book, “The Devil’s Highway,” which tells the true story of 26 illegal immigrants who are abandoned after crossing the U.S. border. Through this true story, Urrea shows the mistreatment of illegal immigrants, and his use of historical examples reveals that immigrants have always been subject to prejudice and persecution in the United States. In the book, Urrea describes the harmful treatment illegal immigrants often experience as they attempt to cross the border. Although Border Patrol agents should treat immigrants humanely, Urrea states there are stories “of Border Patrol men taking prisoners out into the wasteland and having their way with them…. It’s the tawdry legacy of the human hunt—ill will on all sides” (17). Urrea claims these terrible actions and attitudes toward immigrants are a continuous pattern, and he uses stories from the past to prove this cycle. During the Civil War, thousands of Chinese workers were brought from Mexico to the U.S. to

Another group was soon persecuted after the Chinese immigrants were deported: the Japanese, who had come to work in mines and agriculture on the West Coast. Just as Americans today treat Mexican immigrants, the Japanese were seen as threats to security. A “yellow peril” ensued, and governments proposed pieces of legislation to segregate the Japanese from other American citizens (Brown). The unfair treatment of Japanese-Americans parallels with the current decrees of politicians that immigrants are stealing jobs and are a threat to U.S.