The chap­ter “Walls” explores the com­plex his­to­ry and sig­nif­i­cance of the U.S.-Mexico bor­der. The author reflects on a time when the bor­der was non-exis­tent, char­ac­ter­ized by open land­scapes and unmarked ter­ri­to­ry. This nos­tal­gia is con­trast­ed with the harsh real­i­ties of the mod­ern bor­der, described as a “Death Star,” sym­bol­iz­ing bar­ri­ers erect­ed in the name of immi­gra­tion con­trol and nation­al iden­ti­ty.

The nar­ra­tive begins with a his­tor­i­cal account of a group of emi­grants trav­el­ing west in the 1840s, led by a young team­ster named Anto­nio. Their trag­ic jour­ney into what was then Mex­i­can ter­ri­to­ry illus­trates the hubris of Amer­i­can expan­sion. Antonio’s sto­ry cul­mi­nates in tragedy dur­ing the infa­mous Don­ner Par­ty inci­dent, where des­per­ate mea­sures lead to cannibalism—highlighting the dark side of the Amer­i­can fron­tier and its com­plex rela­tion­ship with Mex­i­can and Native peo­ples.

The sub­se­quent estab­lish­ment of the U.S.-Mexico bor­der is described as a prod­uct of com­pet­i­tive colo­nial expan­sion, with the bor­der marked by obelisks and lat­er for­ti­fied by fences and walls. The trans­for­ma­tion of the bor­der from a mere mark­er to a mil­i­ta­rized zone reflects soci­etal fears of “oth­er­ness,” par­tic­u­lar­ly toward Lati­no immi­grants. This sen­ti­ment, borne from a his­tor­i­cal lega­cy of racism and exclu­sion, shapes mod­ern per­cep­tions of Lati­no iden­ti­ty and immi­gra­tion.

As the chap­ter unfolds, it delves into the dual nature of U.S. identity—where a reliance on immi­grant labor coex­ists with fear and hos­til­i­ty towards immi­grants. His­tor­i­cal exam­ples illus­trate this con­tra­dic­tion, start­ing from the Chi­nese Exclu­sion Act in 1882 to the tight­en­ing of immi­gra­tion laws for Latin Amer­i­can nations post-1965.

The nar­ra­tive con­cludes with poignant reflec­tions on per­son­al expe­ri­ences at the bor­der, par­tic­u­lar­ly the expe­ri­ences of Glo­ria Itzel Mon­tiel, who sym­bol­izes the strug­gle of undoc­u­ment­ed immi­grants nav­i­gat­ing their iden­ti­ties amid the over­whelm­ing pres­ence of walls. Ulti­mate­ly, the chap­ter presents the bor­der as both a phys­i­cal bar­ri­er and a metaphor for deep­er social divi­sions, racial myths, and human strug­gles deeply embed­ded in U.S. his­to­ry.