Look at the Dirt: The Story of Border Patrol Agents Through Their Own Eyes

by Paul Eberle

Look at the Dirt is a collection of individual accounts of a sample of agents who agreed to be interviewed. The author includes additional context, as well as his own personal experiences, "looking at dirt" along the southwest border. The title is a reference to tracking or "cutting sign." Come take a ride with the US Border Patrol, from the canyons and mountains of East San Diego County to the Sonoran Desert and Huachuca Mountains of Arizona. Included are accounts of agents from several stations along the southwest border, from the early 1990s to the fall of 2021, primarily in the San Diego and Tucson Sectors. There are stories of sign cutting, checkpoint duty, vehicle pursuits, uses of force, and other features of life as a Border Patrol Agent at work. It is not meant as a dry recitation of facts and figures, or as a detailed examination of immigration policy and its obvious failure; it is more like a "ride along" with the agents patrolling the border, a series of snapshots of the working agents doing their job. They did (and still do) their job in good faith, with professionalism and compassion.

327 pages, Paperback

Published February 24, 2023