La Linea

Jaramillo uses Miguel and Elena’s fictional story to call attention to the real, often harrowing experiences of immigrants. In the novel’s backmatter section titled “About This Book,” Jaramillo writes that “La Línea is fiction, but it is based on real events” (127). Jaramillo includes brief descriptions of the factual bases of many of the novel’s incidents. Immigrants do ride freight trains like the mata gente. Vigilante militia groups comprised of US citizens do patrol the US-Mexico border. Jaramillo references Operation Gatekeeper, an actual immigration policy enacted by the Clinton administration in 1994 in which US Border Patrol stopped immigrants from entering at traditional crossings, forcing them to take more hazardous desert routes. Jaramillo also offers statistics showing the number of undocumented immigrants in the US was close to 10 million. Of those, roughly 60% were from Mexico, 20% from Central America, and 20% from Asia.

These statistics have changed since the publication of La Línea, and public opinion toward immigration has also changed, making it an emotional and hotly contested partisan issue.

The number of immigrants attempting to enter the US has increased since Jaramillo wrote La Línea. In the fiscal year 2021, the US Border patrol reported that 1,659,206 immigrants and asylum-seekers were apprehended by Customs and Border Protection at the US-Mexico border, setting a record for the highest number of “encounters,” or attempted crossings, ever recorded. Only 37% of those attempting to enter the US were from Mexico. The other 63% of migrants were from other countries, primarily Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador, but encounters with migrants from Ecuador, Brazil, Nicaragua, Haiti, and Cuba also spiked (“What’s Happening at the U.S.-Mexico border in 7 Charts,” 2021). Most who try to cross are deported. There were 650 reported migrant deaths during this same year (“Southern Border Humanitarian Crisis”).

Fiscal year 2021 also saw a jump in families and unaccompanied children trying to cross the border: almost 145,000 “Unaccompanied Alien children” (UACs) were apprehended (“Report: Thousands of Unaccompanied Children in Border Patrol Custody,” 2022).

According to the Center for Disaster Philanthropy:

[The US] government tries to quickly move apprehended children from detainment camps to health and human service facilities (including shelters or group homes), relocate them into foster homes or reunite them with a relative. About 85% of unaccompanied minors have a relative in the U.S. (“Humanitarian Crisis”).

Thousands of immigrant children are still being detained and cared for by the Department of Health and Human Services.

Since the publication of La Línea, immigration has become an even greater humanitarian crisis. It has also become a divisive political issue and may prove an emotional trigger for some readers based on their political affiliations and beliefs. Jaramillo’s standpoint reflects that of the majority of the current US Democratic Party. Most Democrats feel positively toward immigrants and agree that migrants can strengthen and advance the US In contrast, polls like that of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs released in 2019 show that 78% of Republicans believe that immigrants and refugees are a “critical threat” to the United States (“Partisan Divisions over Immigration Widen after a Year of turmoil at Border,” 2016).

The recent Republican Trump administration (January 20, 2017-January 20, 2021) implemented a “zero tolerance” approach to immigration in 2018. The administration enacted several controversial policies, including separating children from their parents who illegally cross the US-Mexico border, turning away asylum seekers, and cutting back refugee admissions and legal immigration. The National Immigration Forum notes the Trump administration portrayed immigrants “as a threat” (“Polling Update: Americans Continue to Resist Negative Messages about Immigrants, but Partisan Differences Continue to Grow,” 2020).

At the time of writing this guide, political campaigns for several Republican candidates seeking midterm elections are following the Trump administration’s lead in posing immigrants as a danger to the United States’ value system. Candidates vow to “build the wall” to keep immigrants out and thus protect “America First.” One television ad negatively displays masses of migrants flooding the border with the tagline, “Stop death from streaming across the border” (J. D. Vance campaign ad, 2022). The ad implies that migrants are criminals and drug traffickers.

Even while many consider immigration a critical issue facing the country, a majority of polls from 2019, including a Quinnipiac University Poll and Morning Consult/Politico survey, show that, overall, a majority of people express positive views about immigrants and their potential to benefit the country (“Polling Update”). Jaramillo’s empathetic portrayal of Miguel and Elena’s journey stands in counterpoint to increasing political fearmongering and xenophobia.