What is the author's perspective in the nonfiction book, The Line Becomes a River?

The author’s perspective is defined primarily by his experience of having worked as a member of the U.S. Border Patrol. He has first-hand knowledge of the experiences of migrants trying to cross the border between Mexico and the United States – the desperation that drives their journeying, the hazards they face (in terms of both people and the environment), and their reactions once they are caught and face a return to the life they were so determined to leave.

A second key component of the author’s perspective is defined by his experience of having Mexican heritage. His ethno-cultural origins are one-quarter Mexican, his mother having been half-Mexican on her father’s side: her mother, the author says, was a conservative Caucasian from the American mid-west. The author describes his mother’s efforts to reconnect with her Mexican heritage, to pass that connection on to her son, and to encourage him to develop a similar sort of connection himself. Part of that connection manifests in his ability to speak fluent Spanish, an aspect of his identity that helped him get his jobs with the Border Patrol, helped him develop more trusting (if fleeting) relationships with the migrants he encountered, and, as the narrative suggests, helped him develop both empathy for their often painful situations and guilt for having contributed in a significant way to those situations. He did, after all, enforce American laws on illegal immigration.