Structure

In broad strokes terms, the book’s overall structure is divided into three parts. Each one corresponds to a phase in the author’s life and career. Part 1 focuses on his experiences as a member of the U.S. Border Patrol – his training, his on-the-job encounters with both colleagues and migrants, and his home life. Part 2 focuses on his experiences as an intelligence officer, still with the Border Patrol but based in an office, instead of being out in the field. Again, there are references to training, to on-the-job experiences, and to his home life. Part 3 focuses on his experiences after leaving the Border Patrol altogether, going to graduate school at the University of Arizona in Tuscon and working at a coffee shop, where he makes friends with a migrant named Jose and works with Jose’s family to bring him home after he is arrested at...