Grade:

A

Ruben Martinez discusses the topic of immigration policies and border patrol between the United States and Mexico in his book "Crossing Over." For Tucsonans, this issue is ever present in our news, opinions and our families.

Martinez writes of the aftermath of a tragic accident that occurred in 1996 off Avenida Del Oro near Tijuana.

A coyote (a person who smuggles people across the border for a fee) driving a 1989 blue GMC truck hauls a camper with 27 people confined in it. Border patrol spots the truck. The coyote has been drinking and snorting coke, the roads are in poor condition and border patrol is being reckless in their ensuing chase. A curve is taken at record speed and the driver is unable to slam on the brakes before the car skids, spins 180 degrees and then becomes airborne. Flipping in the air, 27 people in a camper slam roof first into a ditch.

Three brothers were crushed under the truck: Jaime, Benjam’n and Salvador Ch‡vez. Martinez travels into Cher‡n, Mexico, to seek out their families, and in turn, finds a story that is heart-rending, historical and necessary. This family is representative of many others.

Local economies like Cher‡n, "are based almost entirely on work performed in the North." The brothers died because their lives were ruled by a global economy. This global economy, which the United States helped to create, leaves some with virtually no choice but to head north. The immigration policy used to be drastically different. Crossing over the border to find work in the states only required an inspection of hands. For so many years, that was how business between neighbors worked. Now, crossing for many means death, but the importance of crossing remains unchanged. It is an ideal familiar to all Americans ÷ "creating a future so you can have a past, a past that reflects your own will rather than a past imposed by history, one that crushes the very idea of independence."

As influential as Gloria Anzaldœa's Borderlands/La Frontera, this book needs to be a required text for many classes. For denizens who live in or close to border towns, Martinez is an essential read into every side of the issue.

"All sides share in the responsibility for this death. It is a chain. The coyotes make money off the people who cross, and the farmers in America make money off them too, and of course the family and the government in Mexico are remunerated as well."