The Land of Open Graves: Living and Dying on the Migrant Trail

De León writes that “accidental communit[ies],” temporary groups formed of people in the same situation, are common on the migrant trail (135). As migrants embark on the perilous cycle of border-crossing, deportation, and preparing to cross again, and face assault by local gangs and drug-dealers, not to mention the Border Patrol, they recognize that “there is strength in numbers” and that it is worth their while to band together with the decent people they encounter on the trail (135). Also, the friendships formed on the trail are a crucial source of emotional support among “the brotherhood of the defeated,” poor men who presently “have very little except each other” (135).

As the years pass, the cycles of migration—time spent in the United States and deportation—erode traditional family structures, with migrants finding themselves unable to return home and estranged from their families sometimes for decades. This means that the “brotherhood” formed on the trail becomes far more tangible than the men’s actual families (135).

Memo and Lucho’s friendship, which began in a detention center, is enduring. In the period that De León conducts his research, the two men share time in the Juan Bosco center for deportees and experience two border crossings together, one failed and one successful. Memo and Lucho became amigos de camino as their friendship blossoms “over their need to survive deportation to an unfamiliar border town and their shared desire to cross back into the United States,” in addition to both men coming from impoverished, working-class backgrounds (94). Most of the time, their ability to joke about the hardships of migration keeps them close; however, after a failed border-crossing and too much to drink, their friendship is tested, as Lucho becomes angry and turns on Memo, trying to beat him up. Memo reminds him of their brotherhood and their shared conviction that they must cross the border. Arguably, their solidarity enables them to eventually cross the desert via some of its most perilous terrain.

In larger, less close-knit communities, everyone must fend for themselves, and loyalties only go so far when crossing the desert. In the case of Maricela and José, the pasador, or people-smuggler, routinely left struggling people behind to benefit the group. For example, José, who was traveling with his cousins Felipe and Manny, among others, was unable to keep up when he became dehydrated. A guide named Scooby threatened to beat him if he did not get up. While the pasador’s actions are harsh, José’s weakness compromised the group’s chances of success: With such high risks, difficult decisions must often be made.

José told his cousins to go and that he intended to turn himself in. The cousins followed Scooby and José was left with the food and water that they gave him. He disappeared and died in the desert. Here, José’s teenage cousins had to make the difficult decision to abandon him to secure their own advancement. In this example, De León shows how Prevention Through Deterrence puts people in unthinkable circumstances, where they have to provide for their travel companions as best they can and then abandon them to die when they can no longer keep up. In these instances, fraternity breaks down and a sense of individual destiny takes over. In Christian’s words, “they say that everyone has their own luck” as to whether they will have the strength and favorable circumstances to survive the desert crossing (237).