La Migra

The conflict between the Border Patrol agent and the Mexican woman in “La Migra” is framed as a kind of cat-and-mouse game, involving constant pursuit in which the cat (Border Patrol) is bigger and stronger, yet the mouse (border crosser) manages to outwit the cat and escape. Each part of the poem begins with an invitation to play the game: “Let’s play La Migra” (Lines 1, 19). In the first part, “the Border Patrol” (Line 2) extends the invitation with an arrogant assurance that he can easily overpower the Mexican migrant because of his access to legal authority, symbolized by “the badge” (Line 4), speed enabled by the “jeep” (Line 7), and the lethal power of the “gun” (Line 17). The agent’s final words evoke the start of a race: “Get ready, get set, run” (Line 18). Sometimes a gun firing into the air marks the beginning of a race, but the Border Patrol agent’s gun might instead aim at the person running. In the poem’s second part, the migrant woman’s invitation to play is equally confident, but in this case the confidence is not based on tools and symbols of overwhelming power. In contrast, she relies on her familiarity with the