"It's Our Job to Stop That Dream"

The endless, futile work of the Border Patrol

Malia Politzer from the April 2007 issue

(Page 13 of 13)

Vasquez tries to dissuade him. "It's very dangerous there. You could die. What good will you be to your family if you are dead?"

 

"I've thought of that."

 

"Look, I understand where you're coming from. But you have to understand also that it's very dangerous out there." Vasquez points out the window toward the wilderness. It's about 100 degrees today. No water. No ride. Ramirez and his friends easily could have died.

 

"I know." Ramirez watches as another Border Patrol vehicle pulls up beside us and slows to a stop. "But I've lost a lot of money. I just don't see any other way."

 

Ramirez and his friends get into the other truck. "Probably they'll try to cross again," Vasquez tells me.

"They'll try their luck, see if they can make it up north to get a job."

 

I nod. We drive back toward Nogales to do another round of patrols.

 

Malia Politzer ([e-mail]) is producing a documentary about undocumented immigration.