Answer questions of the Devil's highway - Book Report/Review Example

#Question 2a In Urrea’s book, the repeated subject appears to be the fact that illegal immigration occurs as result of many aspects and not just one. This makes immigration a highly complicated matter, because more than one individual or group contributes towards its occurrence and effects. All possible individuals may be held liable but, in the end, it is hard to point out one specific person or organization. For example, the people transporting immigrants across the border (coyotes) are simply paid to help.

On the other hand, border patrol officers are simply law enforcers and actually treat immigrants kindly, while insisting that the basic cause of the problem should be identified and effectively dealt with. This means that the companies which provide assistance to illegal immigrants and drug gangs promoting the illegal trade must be punished according to the law. For example, it is clear that most of the Mexicans who migrate illegally into America do so, for lack of jobs back at home. American employers, whether individuals or organizations, take advantage of the opportunity to pay low wage labor hence fail to take proper legal steps for clearance.

The author indicates that America benefits from about $4 million per year from unlawful immigration. The complication of illegal immigration is best summarized by Urrea’s idea that “…it is not the desert that kills immigrants. It is not coyotes. It is not even the Border Patrol; rather the immigrants are killed by politics of futility ruling either side of the America-Mexico border.” (p. 215). #Question 2b As clearly shown in Urrea’s “The Devil’s Highway” immigration occurs based on the reason that an individual or a group of people decide to leave their country of origin and transfer to another.

This could be as a result of a wide range of factors. In the Mexico-America trend of migration, reasons for movement include: lack of jobs, high levels of poverty in Mexico, increased insecurity and attractive opportunities in America, among other factors (Urrea 77). To effectively support change in immigration policies, therefore, it would be reasonable to deal with the main cause of the problem, which is made of factors mentioned above. Carrying out strategies that would encourage Mexicans to remain in their country would be better and more effective, than accumulating extra costs in increasing border security measures, sending the military to the border and hiring additional border patrol officers (Urrea 78).

In my opinion, America should strengthen its relationship with Mexican authorities, thus offering support where necessary such as, in sponsoring education, proposing security addition measures and increasing trade association with the country. Additionally, American authorities could help Mexican leaders to maintain their authority and to guarantee well paying jobs and security for their citizens. This would serve an important role in encouraging Mexicans to stay in their country, rather than looking for opportunities, that might not even exist, in America.

The success of this approach may be prevented by the poor relations between the two nations and the unstable nature of Mexico’s government, as it is always under threat from drug cartels. #Question 2c “The Devil’s Highway” has explored the idea of borders through a very believable and realistic manner. Illegal immigration