The Land of Open Graves: Living and Dying on the Migrant Trail

Jason De León’s book examines “the violence and death that border crossers face on a daily basis as they attempt to enter the United States without authorization by walking across the vast Sonoran Desert of Arizona” (3). Those who successfully cross the border perform the low-paid, strenuous essential jobs that United States citizens are reluctant to do, such as meat processing and fruit picking. Many of those crossing the desert have made several attempts to do so, as their lives fall into a pattern of undocumented border crossing and deportation. In 2013 alone, nearly 2 million undocumented migrants were removed from the country. A large proportion of deportees are now traversing Arizona’s desert landscape, seeking ways to return to their families and homes.

De León’s argument is that the death, disfigurement, and sexual abuse that migrating people experience en route are not accidental but rather the Border Patrol’s attempt to redirect blame onto the natural landscape and “render invisible” the innumerable consequences that migration and deportation have for the migrants involved. In writing his book, De León seeks to give voice to these underrepresented people and keep track of their different trajectories.