Crossing the Wire

Reading Crossing the Wire ended up really surprising me. I thought I knew about illegal crossings of the border, but I clearly did not know the extent of it. I had no idea about the coyotes and how some people tried to pay them off, but really after reading the book, it makes sense when that is there only hope of getting across. Going with nothing is even more risky to me, and personally I do not know if I would have it in me to make it across the border after everything Victor went through.

It made me sad for Victor that he literally did everything he could to support his family, risking death too many times. It seemed like he got discouraged, but never discouraged enough to quit and go home. Just as in Sold, I found myself getting happy for Victor after the smallest of Victories. I was happy anytime he could eat, or sleep. He is incredibly old and mature for only being 15 years old. That is another thing that really shocked me about this book. He was running from police and border patrol, all alone, hungry and cold, and I constantly had to remind myself he is only 15. My younger sister is 15, and I could never imagine one of her friends having to endure everything he did to send money back to his family.

Money is another thing that surprised me while reading. At the end of the book, Victor got so excited because he was able to send $250 home. He stated that now his mom was going to be able to buy everyone new clothes, none of them would have to go hungry, and his sisters could even think about starting school. To me, $250 does not sound like enough money to do all of those things – or even close to it. It showed me how little they were able to get by off of.

Even with Victor sending that money though, he said he had been waiting 11 weeks to be able to start working and get money. 11 weeks without knowing if your son is okay is such a long time for his mom to wait. I also understand though that that was their only option to surviving, and that Victor had to step up to be the man of his household and get money. This differed from Sold, because the woman was the one expected to make money elsewhere to send back to their family. I applaud Victor for always keeping trudging along no matter what came his way. He is so young to have to face drug smuggling, border patrol, hopping trains, and near death experiences all in hopes of making it to the United States.

This book made me want to read more into the issues of illegal crossings into the United States. It was so alarming to me he ended up meeting so many other kids his age along the way, it makes me interested to read more statistics.