Midnight on the Line

"With a combination of meticulous firsthand reporting and a sharp eye for detail, Tim Gaynor draws a vivid picture of the perpetual cat-and-mouse game played out daily between smugglers and the Border Patrol along the two-thousand-mile border between the United States and Mexico. Midnight on the Line is alive with anecdotes and detail you won't find elsewhere—from would-be border crossers covered head to toe in tinfoil to avoid infrared detection to the interplay of high-tech equipment and ancient tracking skills used by men on horseback."—Bernd Debusmann, Reuters

"Tim Gaynor has written the owner's manual for the U.S.-Mexico border. In clear, vivid language he tells us how it works, how it fails, and why it will continue to work and fail as millions claw at the line on their way to the American El Dorado."—Charles Bowden, author of Blood Orchid and Down by the River

"An enthusiastic, journalistic examination of the U.S.-Mexico border, a turbulent mix of illegal immigration, drug smuggling, corruption, and violence. Reuters reporter Gaynor jumps headfirst into his first book."—Kirkus Reviews

"Gaynor is a Reuters reporter, living in Phoenix and specializing in immigration coverage. Here he covers both the illegal immigrant experience and the tactics used by the U.S. Border Patrol to curtail the trek from south to north by interviewing former drug smugglers, migrants, coyotes (the transporters), and border guards. He and his photographer colleague attempt, but fail to complete, a typical immigrant journey from Altar, in the Sonoran desert, to Three Points, southwest of Tucson. Gaynor describes how the drug cartels have become increasingly involved in human smuggling during their 'off months,' employing the same brutal tactics and extortion. He details the battle for drug supremacy in Tijuana, 'the jewel in the crown of Mexican drug trafficking,' and observes drug and human movement over the border to California by car, truck, and tunnel. He interviews Border Patrol agents, Black Hawk helicopter pilots, Minutemen, and members of the discreet Special Response Teams, including skilled Native American trackers known as the Shadow Wolves. A fascinating window into the intricacies of this complex, often over-politicized problem."—Deborah Donovan, Booklist

"Gaynor, who covers the U.S.-Mexican border for Reuters, here recounts his experiences reporting on smuggling activity between the two countries. He presents the stories of smugglers moving drugs, people, guns, and money across the border using methods ranging from planes and trucks to tunnels and desert treks. Opposing the smugglers are Mexican and American federal, state, and local law enforcement using techniques ranging from horseback patrols to remote-control scout aircraft. Gaynor also discusses the rampant corruption found among security officials, with agents accepting money, drugs, and sex to assist the smugglers. Appearing among a cast of characters are groups of private individuals such as the Minutemen and the Shadow Wolves, Native Americans who track immigrants and smugglers. This clear and accessible story, drawn from Gaynor's reporting, provides a detailed picture of the current state of this borderland."—Stephen L. Hupp, Library Journal