The book, The Devil’s Highway by Luis Alberto Urrea, is based on the true story of the Yuma-14 or Wellstone 26, who were Mexicans that crossed the American border and died while doing so. This novel goes through not only the story of the Yuma-14 but the background of what happened before their journey and after their deaths, as well as the mentalities of the Border Patrol agents. It gives you the complete picture of what had happened. The Devil’s Highway starts off with a brief background about what happened. It’s learned here that 14 men had died on their journey and 12 had survived. Border Patrol agent Mike F. found them in the desert, severely dehydrated. Not only does the reader get a glimpse of what happened to these men, they are also given a detailed look into how the Border Patrol operates. It goes into detail about their location, how they …show more content…
The deaths of the 14 men were tragic, and the survivors live to tell their story. One part that surprised me was that Mendez and Lauro could steal the group's money and just leave like that with the promise of returning but never coming back. “Rafael Temich says, ‘But of course, they didn’t come back.’ They agreed to stick together and walk North,” (Urrea 158). The men waited all day for the two group leaders to return, but they never did. This was wrong of them to do since they just left these men out in the middle of nowhere with no food and water. They had broken many promises to these men and that was not right of them. They were only concerned about themselves and not the people that they brought to America. I do not agree with what these men did to the 26 men that they left there to die. It also makes me mad that they took the few American dollars that these people had with the promise of water and help, but the actual reason was for themselves when they got to a