Threshold: Emergency Responders on the U.S.-Mexico Border

In this combination anthropological analysis and memoir, Jusionyte explores, through the lens of her experience as a first responder for the Nogales, Ariz., fire department, the extensive human casualties of United States immigration policies and its weaponized border. As she writes, “rather than being ‘accidents’—unanticipated occurrences that happen unintentionally and result in damage—emergencies on the border are deliberately caused by government policies”: the border wall, which is tall and has a very sharp top, frequently results in amputated fingers and broken ankles for those who have jumped from heights of more than 20 feet. Jusionyte speaks to other first responders to discuss the “patterns” and “social trends” of injuries and disasters along the border. She visits a detention center for undocumented minors to tend to a teenager suffering from heat stroke after walking in the desert; travels to Tucson, Ariz., to explore the work of a group aiding the undocumented in crossing with food, water, and medical supplies; and writes movingly of the collaborative efforts between Nogales, in Arizona, and its counterpart across the border, Nogales, Sonora—the two towns’ fire departments have frequently called upon one another for aid. Jusionyte explores the sister towns bisected by the border from many angles in this illuminating and poignant exploration of a place and situation that are little discussed yet have significant implications for larger political discourse. (Nov.)