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"La Migra" by Pat Mora (1993)

I Let's play //La Migra4// I'll be the Border Patrol. You be the Mexican maid. I get the badge and sunglasses. You can hide and run, but you can't get away because I have a jeep I can take you wherevever I want, but don't ask questions because I don't speak Spanish. I can touch you wherever I want but don't complain too much because I've got boots and kick-if I have to, and I have handcuffs. Oh, and a gun. Get ready, get set, run.

II Let's pay //La Migra// You be the Border Patrol. I'll be the Mexican woman. Your jeep has a flat, and you have been spotted by the sun. All you have is heave:hat, glasses, badge, shoes, gun. I know this desert, where to rest, where to drink. Oh, I am not alone. You hear us singing and laughing with the wind,//Agua dulce brota aqui, aqui, aqui//,//5// but since you can't speak Spanish, you don't understand. Get ready.

4. Border patrol agents. 5. Sweet water springs here, here, here.

Way 1: First Impressions
"La Migra" is a poem about border patrol agents' maltreatment, e.g., physical and sexual abuse, of Mexican working women crossing the border into the United States. (Mora 12-16) But despite the bad treatment, the women have no ill will toward the agents and are willing to help the agents in the agents time of need. (Mora 22-26 and 33-34)

Way 2: Engaging with the Text
The sounds I notice in the poem is rhyming, alliteration, assonance, and rythm. The word "sunglasses" in line 4 has assonance with the word "run" in line 5. Rhyming is evident in lines 17 and 18 in the words "gun" and "run" respectively; in lines 22 and 25 with the words "flat" and "hat"; and again in lines 24 and 26 with the words "sun" and "gun". Alliteration is found in line 3 in the terms "Mexican maid"; lines 11 and 35 with the terms "speak Spanish"; and in line 32 with the term "...with the wind". The rhythm is a pattern of two syllables to one syllable in almost every other line. The poem, with the exception of the word "Mexican", is almost entirely made up of one and two syllable words. These sounds, particularly the rhythm and rhyming, are attention getters.

**Way 3: A Point about Form and Its Relationship to Content**
The form of "La Migra" is rhyme and meter. The rythm is a pattern of two syllables to one syllable in almost every other line. The poem, with the exception of the wor "Mexican" is almost entirely made up of one and two syllable words. Each line ends on the important words, or the words that provide the emphasis to the nature of the story. These words include "Patrol", "run", "away". (Mora 2, 5 and 6) The meter and rythm of the poem allows the reader to read the poem at a moderately quick pace, allowing pauses at the end of each line which are points of emphasis. For example, "Your jeep has a flat,/ and you have been spotted/ by the sun." (Mora 22-24) When read aloud a reader would seem to naturally emphasize the words "flat" and "spotted", but not the word "sun". (Mora 22-24)

**Way 3: Another Point about form and Its Relationship to Content**
"La Migra" is a narrative poem separated into two stanzas that, at first glance, seem to be a game involving two characters. The roles of the characters are separated into the stanzas, with both stanzas beginning with "Let's play La Migra" (Mora 1 and 19) It is interesting that the role play begins with the power character, the border patrol agent with its power being signified by the use of capital letters for border patrol agent.

Way 4: Unpacking an Instance of Figurative Language
Mora uses several instances of figurative language in the poem. One such instance is imagery. The word "kick" in line 15 is one example of imagery. When a living being is kicked, the kick can be felt. If the kick is hard it may also cause pain. Lines 12-15 sets ups this imagery: "I can touch you whereever/ I want but don't complain/too much because I've got/ boots and kick-if I have to". The word __kick__ means "to strike out with the foot or feet" or it can mean "a vigorous thrust or blow with the foot" or "to treat roughly" or "complain or protest" ("Kick"). The author could have used the work "hit" or "stomp". The word "kick" connotates force, pain, or discomfort, especially when the speaker states as a reminder "...I've got boots and kick..." (Mora 14) which may mean that there is an intent to cause pain. When we visualize the use of boots to kick someone it invokes an emotional response. Because a foot or the feet are involved in the action, the action could be symbolic of disrepect for the person receiving the action, particularly if the action is intended to cause pain or discomfort. Evidence to support this connotation can be found in lines 2, and 8-10 where an assumption can be made that the event is an interaction between a border patrol agent and a "Mexican maid". (Mora 3) The agent has not cared enough to learn Spanish (or his employer has not cared enough to require the agent to learn Spanish) to sucessfully interact with the people the agent comes in contact with probably on a regular basis,as the speaker in the role of border patrol agent states "I don't speak Spanish". (Moira 11). Additional evidence of disrepect is when the speaker tells the "Mexican maid" that "I can touch you wherever/ I want..." (Moira 3, 12-13). We see further evidence of disrepect is found in line 3, in which the female character is given the role of the "Mexican maid" a commonly known sterotype of Mexican women. The imagery and symbolism connects with the rest of the poem as it perhaps symbolizes abuse of power and arrogance of border patrol agents.

Way 4: Unpacking Another Instance of Figurative Language
Another use of figurative language in the poem is symbolism. The "badge" is commonly thought of as a symbol of authority. In context of the poem, the term seems to be used as a sybmol for both power and weakness. The word "badge" is used twice in the poem, once in each stanza. In the first stanza the term as used in line 4, and symbolizes the power and authority of the border patrol agent. In the second stanza, the term is used, still in reference to the border patrol agent, but it no longer symbolizes power and authority, the badge seems to be used to sybolize a weakness or a burden, as lines 25-26 state, "All you have is heavy: hat,/ glasses, badge, shoes, gun". The "badge" in this context no longer has the significance or importance that it has in the first stanza in line 4.

Way 4: Unpacking Another Instance of Figurative Language
Yet another instance of figurative language is metaphor. Lines 18 and 37 both use the phrase "Get ready". The phrase may be interpreted to mean to be prepared or to prepare for something. In line 18, the phrase is combined with "...get set, run". In this combination, "Get ready, get set, run" we may think of line 18 as a methaphor for starting a race or perhaps a chase. This is significant when read with lines 1-16 because the power character essentially saying I have all of the control e.g. "I can touch you wherever / I want.../ ...I've got boots.../ I have handcuffs /... and a gun". (Mora 12-17)

Way 5: Analyzing the Setting
The poem's title is "La Migra" translated in English means border patrol agents. From this information we can assume that the setting of the poem is in the desert near the U.S. and Mexico border. Because the poem seems to be a role play, as it is broken into two stanzas and each stanza beginning with "Let's play La Migra" (Mora 1 and 19) Beginning each stanza this way implies a game, which in general is being played by children who are or have been exposed to border patrol agents or have heard stories as described in "La Migra": one child is offering to the other to play a game. In this context it can be assumed that the setting is in a school yard or in any area where children may play.

Way 6: Identifying and Analyzing Point of View
At first glance it looks as if Mora uses first person narrative. The speaker uses the words "I", and you, indicating that the speaker is a participant in the story. (Mora 2-3 and 20-21) However, when we consider the form and structure of the poem e.g. the two stanzas set up set up as role playing. In the first stanza, the character speaking seems to the border patrol agent or person playing a border patrol agent. (Mora 2) The other character in the stanza is a "Mexican maid".(Mora 3) and in the second stanza, the roles are reversed and the speaker becomes the "Mexican woman"; the other character is the border patrol agent. (Mora 20-21) We can conclude that the point of view is actually third person limited point of view. The story "is told by a detached narrator who is not a character in the story, but the story itself is focused through the consciousness of a single character. The reader is presented with only that character's perspective on what's happening." (Brown 64). A reader of "La Migra" experiences what seems like two view points because of Mora's use of role play, but is actually only experiencing the consciousness of the "Mexican maid" or the "Mexican woman", (Mora 3 and 21) or in other words of the Mexican female experience with border patrol agents.

Way 7: Analyzing Complexity, Ambiguity, & Difficulty
"La Migra" is complex and ambiguous, and therefore difficult for a variety of reasons. First the author interchanges English and Spanish in reference to the same word e.g. "La Migra" and "Border Patrol" (Mora 1-2 and 19-20). Another ambiguity is the use of the phrase "Let's play La Migra". (Mora 1 and 19) As mentioned previously, at first glance a reader can assume that a game is intended to be played, especially when the second stanza also begins with the phrase, and the roles are reversed. Another ambiguity is found in line 30, where the speaker says "Oh, I am not alone", but switches from first person singular to plural in lines 31-32 by saying "You hear us singing and laughing with the wind," This line implies intangibility in that it is the spirit, not the person that the stranded agent "hears" or feels. women are th are not actually there. It is unclear what lines 31-32 means. Why did the author make the switch from first person singular to plural? What does "laughing and singing in the wind" means? (Mora 31-31) Yet another ambiguity is the phrase "Get ready, get set, run" (Mora 18) This phrase is repeated but in abbreviated in line 37 to "Get ready". Why did the author abbreviate the phrase in line 37? Although I cannot conclude with certainty, the ambiguities pointed out here may be related to the change in roles which seem to equate with a change in power. The border patrol agent is in a position of power and control in the first stanza. The agent has the vehicle, the gun, handcuffs, badge, and authority. (Mora 4, 7, 16, and 17) The "Mexican maid" in the first stanza, is in a position of vulnerability or weakness, in that the maid can try to "hide and run/ but can't get away" (Mora 5-6), and "can complain/ but not too much". Could the use of the phrase "Get ready, get set, run" be Mora's way of telling readers that people are treated or hunted like animals, subject to being chased?

Way 8: Considering Canoncity
The aesthetic and cultural value of the poem is evident. The author sets up the poem as role play which is artistic because it softens what could be a stinging indictment of border patrol agents and subsequent anger resulting from the poor treatment of Mexican women by using words such as "play" or phrases "Let's play" (Mora 1 and 19) combined with assonance, rhyme and meter, and third person limited point of view. And although the border patrol agents are portrayed as abusive toward these women, the women are willing and able to show compassion and maintain their spirit. (Mora 31-34)

Way 9: Biographical Context
Pat Mora, the author of "La Migra" is a Mexican-American writer and educator who grew up near El Paso, Texas. (Contemporary Authors Online) Mora tends to write about "Mexican-American culture [and] nature (especially the desert) in the soutwestern United States." (Contemporary Authors Online) The desert setting is indeed found in "La Migra". In line 27, the speaker states "I know this desert". In lines 23 and 24, the speaker to the other character says "...you have been spotted/ by the sun", providing readers with the imagery of a desert. Also characteristic of Mora's writings are the use of "...basic Spanish phrases" (Contemporary Authors Online) This is evident in subject poem. The title of the poem "La Migra" is Spanish for "Border patrol Agent". Mora also uses the Spanish terms for water "[a]uga dulce" (Mora 33).

Mora is also an activist, as quoted in Contemporary Authors Online, Mora states "...I write because I believe Hispanics need to take their rightful place in American Literature. I will contine to write and struggle to say what no other writer can say quite the same way."

Way 10: Historical and Cultural Contexts
According to Houston in "Border violence against illegal immigrants and the need to change the Border Patrol' s current complaint review process", the U.S. has struggled with illegal immigration through its border with Mexico since the mid-1980s when the U.S. ramped up its efforts to stem the practice by passing the Immigration Reform and Control Act which increased the number of border patrol agents, again increased by President Clinton in 1994. (Houston) With this increase in presence, also came an increase in arrogance and abuse, as the the border patrol "as a whole [has an] impersonal attitude in fulfilling its mission". In 1992, the year before Mora published "La Migra",which was published in 1993, the director of Human Rights Watch, Aryeh Neier, stated that "agents behave in the field as if they are accountable to no one' and that '[b]eatings, rough physical treatment, intimidation tactics and verbal abuse are routine." (qtd. by Houston) Mora in "La Migra" portrays this arrogance and physical abuse in the first stanza, where the character playing the border patrol agent states "you and hide and run,/ but you can't get away/... I can take you wherever I want.../ I've got boots .../ I have handcuffs.../ and a gun" (Mora 5, 8, 9, 12, 15, 16, and 17) Reports of physical and sexual abuse was on the rise in between 1983 and 1994, yet out of approximately 1322 complaints, only "two out of twelve Border Patrol Agents indicted, since September 1983 received convictions." (Houston) In 1992, the human rights group America's Watch reported that "sexual abuse of illegal immigrants is rampant" (Houston) Household employers "commonly threaten to deport undcoumented domestic workers if they refuse to do more work, reject sexual advances, or attempt to return home. These workers are vulnerable to employer exploitation" (Vellos) These statements highlight abuse of illegal female immigrants that is different from that of border patrol agents, yet the same. The paradoxical symbolism in "La Migra", that of the "Mexican maid" and of the "Mexican woman" and of power and authority over the them (Mora 3 and 21)

Way 11: Theoretical Application
Applying the cultural studies critical theory we would examine Pat Mora's biography in which we would find that she is a Mexican-American who tends to write about desert areas. (Contemporary Authors Online). She was born and raised in El Paso Texas, where it is common knowledge that illegal immigrants cross into the U.S. She undoubtedly has witnessed or heard in her role as an activist of the experiences of immigrant women. Mora was 51 when she published "La Migra". (Contemporary Authors Online)

Way 12: Another Theoretical Application
Another critical theory that can be applied is New Criticism. "La Migra" includes several examples of figurative language, including imagery, metaphors, and symbolism. Each of these elements and its form and structure make the poem itself is a metaphor for the abuse, exploitation, and hyprocisy, in immigration enforcement and employment of undocumented workers.

Way 13: Unifying Interpretation
Canonicty is more of a cultural and artistic value. "La Migra" may be canonized due both to its cultural and artistic value because More uses poeity form and structure, and role play to tackle the complex and controversial subject of illegal immigration, racism, and maltreatment of immigrants, particularly illegal female immigrants. The poem is a metaphor for the abuse of power, exploitation and hyprocrisy. The setting of the poem could be the Mexican desert, but upon reviewing the historical and cultural context of the poem, I believe setting could also be in an American household, the employer of the "Mexican maid" (Mora 3), with the "La Migra's" badge, gun, and jeep symbolizing the power of the household employer and the border control agent over the Mexican female. (Mora 4, 7, and 17) The "Mexican woman", however, knows the strength of her spirit, her value, and the compassion of her soul in spite of her ill treatment as Mora tells readers "I know this desert,/where to rest, where to drink/ Oh, I am not alone./ You hear us singing and laughing with the wind, /Agua dulce brota aqui,/ aqui, aqui, but since you/ can't speak Spanish,/ you do not understand/ Get ready" (Mora 27-36), you need me.

On its face, the poem looks like a simple story. It is the simplicity in the poem which makes it complex, ambiguous, and difficult, because the reader can easily fall for the strong use of imagery, symbolism, and metaphors in the story, and conclude that he or she sees the entire iceberg. The readers can feel and even see the heat of the sun that has "spotted" the agent. (Mora 23 and 24) But the creative use of figurative language requires readers to look more deeply into the text, and requires the historical and cultural context to do it sucessfully. Upon reviewing the historical and cultural and biographical contexts, I'm convinced that every word in the poem has deeper meanings. One glaring example of this is Mora's use of the terms "Mexican maid" and "Mexican woman". My first thoughts were that these language uses were to point out racial stereotyping, while I still hold this thought, I also now believe that the terminology is also symbolic of the plight of the illegal immigrant female experience coming to American and her experience as an undocumented female worker after she crosses the border.


 * Works Cited and Consulted**

Brown, James S. and Yarbrough, Scott D. __A Practical Introduction to Literary Study__. Ed. Leah Jewell. New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc., 2005

Contemporary Authors Online, "Pat Mora", in Contemporary Authors Online (A Profile of the Author's Life and Works)" __Gale Database: Contemporary Authors Online__. 2008. 29 Apr. 2009 

Houston Journal of International Law. "Border violence against illegal immigrants and the need to change the Border Patrol's current complaint review process." __Entreprenuer__. Fall 2008. 12 May 2009 <[] >

Mora, Pat. "La Migra" 1993. Received from Dr. Nancy Chick via Wikispaces.

__The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language.__ New College Edition.

Vellos, Diane. "Immigrant Latina Domestic Workers and Sexual Harassment". __Race, Racism and the Law Speaking Truth to Power__. 14 Apr. 2006. 12 May 2009 < [] >