Francisco Cantu: The Line becomes a river, Non-fiction.Bodley Head, Penguin Random House UK& 9781847924872 & Riverhead/Penguin Random House USA, 9780525536253, both hardbacks,

If you have been following the atrocious treatment of Mexican immigrants in Trump’s America  like I have during my very recent US visit, “The Line becomes a river “ is a revealing story told from the realities of a former border control official and the cost to their own soul.  The separation of children from their parents when crossing the US illegally shook the US, uniting many Republicans and Democrats.   One can only imagine what some officials went through psychologically when told to apply this order knowing what damage it would inflict to the children in particular.

Francisco Cantu served as an agent for the United States Border Patrol from 2008 – 2012 working in the deserts of Arizona, New Mexico and Texas, classic border countries with a history of Mexican immigrants.  He is a third generation Mexican-American himself and despite his mother’s warning what such a job might do to his psyche and soul, he felt he was up to the daily challenges of working the border. Cantu describes the daily patrols, the politics, the plight of those caught, and the tight knit community of border agents. His language is honest and beautiful as he unashamedly writes about his conflicts. When empathy for those crossing the border overshadows his sense of duty and he starts to have nightmares, Francisco knows he has to act deciding to leave the patrol for civilian life. 

He begins working in a coffee shop for a start and befriends Jose, an illegal immigrant of many years who has a family and works nearby. As Jose shares his lunch with Francisco, a warm friendship develops between the immigrant and the former border control man. When Jose travels back to Mexico to visit his dying mother and does not return Cantu discovers that he is being held by the border patrol as he could only reenter the US illegally. With clarity and compassion Cantu describes what happens once he gets himself involved in Jose’s and his family’s case trying to unite him with his boys in the US who are US citizens.  It is a heartbreaking story at times.

I found this great book very enlightening and uplifting despite it’s sometimes very sobering events describing the human cost on both sides. Cantu is now an award winning writer and a former Fulbright fellow.