The Line Becomes A River makes you see how easy it can be to lose yourself to become part of a group or an institution. Cantu tells his story of becoming a border patrol agent without judgment or comment about the things he sees and participates in. As his time in the agency goes on we see through his mother’s eyes its effect on him. After he leaves the border patrol, we see him do what he can to help a friend who has been deported back to Mexico after living and working in the US for many years. We see what the system does to the people who enforce the laws of the US. and what those enforcement efforts do to people who are circumventing those laws who are only trying to make a better life for their families. This book makes the reader understand the “globalization of indifference” and just how unstable an emotion compassion is if we don’t act on it.