Cover art by Daniel Acuna
The shared border between the United States and Mexico has been a “hot button” issue in American politics long before real estate magnate Donald Trump used it to propel himself into the White House in 2016. As a presidential candidate, Trump announced his intentions to not only “build a wall” at the border but force Mexico to pay for it.
His subsequent actions as president – refusing to negotiate with Democrats to avoid a federal government shutdown unless the wall was funded, initiating a “zero tolerance” policy that separated migrant parents from their children – further politicized the issue, causing a nation already divided to become even more so.
Mere months after Donald Trump announced his run for the presidency, Sam Wilson – who had recently taken over the mantle of Captain America in the Marvel Comics Universe – likewise made a stance regarding the U.S.-Mexican border. The original Captain America, Steve Rogers, had significantly aged after the Super Soldier Serum that gave him superpowers was neutralized in his body. No longer capable of fighting as Captain America, he handed the shield and the title to Wilson.
Sam Wilson became the first African American comic book superhero when he was introduced as the Falcon in 1969, and now found himself as one of the most iconic superheroes of all time. It didn’t take long before the new Captain America was confronted by far-right conservatives who believed that the white Steve Rogers was the only true Captain America.
Wilson even ostracized himself from the now elderly Rogers and Maria Hill of the covert S.H.I.E.L.D. by taking what were considered political stands. Despite such outcries, Sam Wilson had no intentions of backing down or relinquishing the shield.
“My name is Mariana Torres,” an elderly woman says in an online video addressed to Captain America. “I speak to you about my grandson, Joaquin. I come to this country with my daughter many years ago. Joaquin, he was very little. Joaquin, he care about our community. About the people who come here from Mexico, looking for work. Some people, they say he is ‘coyote’? But he is not. He is Samaritan. He leaves water, and medicine, and food for people walking through the desert. So that they do not starve or die. But the last time he go, he did not come back. I try to call the police, but they tell me it is for Border Patrol. Immigration. I know they will not help me. And the police, they say he got lost, maybe the heat, but I know Joaquin. He is very good in the desert. No, I know what happened to him. They took him. They take so many. It was the Sons of the Serpent.” After watching the video, Sam Wilson immediately heads to the American Southwest.
Wilson was not alone, as many real-world Americans made the same journey to take either pro-immigrant or restrictionist stances on migration. In her 2020 book Divided by the Wall: Progressive and Conservative Immigration Politics at the U.S.-Mexico Border, Emine Fidan Elcioglu explores the resulting activist organizations that operate near the U.S.- Mexican border on both sides of the political spectrum.
Like Joaquin Torres, the pro-immigrant Humanitarians venture into the desert to leave water, food, and medical supplies for migrants, and intentionally chose their name to reflect the humanitarian nature of their work.
“Framing it that way is a way of showing how ridiculous and how abusive the government, as the antagonist, is,” one of the founders of the group told Elcioglu. “Because as soon as you say that, (people) have immediate sympathy because it isn’t a crime – that kind of humanitarian aid, like giving a ride to migrants who are about to die, giving them a ride to medical care is not a crime. Giving water to migrants is not a crime. And so when you’re transporting and quote ‘littering’ – that’s what the government is saying – it shows their inhumanity.”
In the Arizona desert of the Marvel Comics Universe, a group of migrants stumble upon water left by a group similar to the Humanitarians but are immediately confronted by armed-and-masked members of the Sons of the Serpents.
“Attention all trespassers!” one of Serpents shouts. “By invading this sovereign land, you defy the laws of God, nature, and the United States Constitution. Therefore I hereby apprehend you by the power vested in me by the aforementioned God, nature, et cetera, et cetera.”
A migrant speaks up, telling the Serpents to leave them alone. “Lord knows we have tried!” comes the response. “But until the mighty wall is built, you come here for employment that is rightfully ours. And if denied it, you seek welfare paid for by our tax dollars. Also, you know how you make me press a one for English at the beginning of every call to my satellite provider? That is something I cannot abide!”
While the Humanitarians of the real-world aid migrants making their way across the U.S.-Mexican border, restrictionist groups offer their assistance to Border Patrol agents charged with deterring migrants. Although the Sons of the Serpents are “vigilantes” operating outside the law in the Marvel Comics Universe, Emine Fidan Elcioglu notes in Divided By the Wall that real-world organizations like the Soldiers and the Engineers are not vigilante by nature – despite being labeled as such by the media – as they openly work with Border Patrol within the context of the law.
Members of the Soldiers, for instance, spend shifts at observation points located along paths used by migrants. Their job is to simply “stay still, observe, report” rather than confront, informing Border Patrol agents of any activity along the paths. The Soldiers also place hidden cameras in the desert to record migrant movements that can then be used to enhance border security. The fact that the group seldom come across migrants is considered “proof” that their tactics are working.
The Engineers, meanwhile, initially observed the tactics of the Border Patrol, looking for flaws in their strategies. Afterwards, the Engineers created specially designed tech – including motion sensors and monitoring drones – that could potentially assist the Border Patrol in their efforts.
“The Soldiers strove to become a civilian extension of the Border Patrol in the desert,” Emine Fidan Elcioglu explains of the two groups. “The Engineers to be a border security contractor for the Department of Homeland Security.”
Captain America defeats the Sons of the Serpents but discovers that they are kidnapping migrants – as well as Samaritans like Joaquin Torres – and teleporting them to New York City. He therefore books a flight from Arizona to New York. His actions at the border, meanwhile, become a topic of conversation among the other passengers on the plane.
“I just wanted to say thank you,” a woman tells Sam Wilson. “My husband, he’s from Mexico. And to be honest, he was never sure about you. But today, when we saw on the news you were trying to stop the Sons of the Serpents, he called me, all excited. He said, ‘Look at that sweetheart – someone’s finally fighting for us.”
When another passenger agrees, somebody counters, “That don’t change the fact that they shouldn’t be walking across our border like that. It’s against the law.”
“Oh, please!” the first woman replies. “They’re just trying to make better lives for their families. They’re looking for jobs!”
“What about our jobs?” yet another asks. “Americans first!”
“We’re a nation of immigrants!” someone shouts back.
The brief exchange is a snapshot of America in the twenty-first century, where different people interpret the same situation in a politicized fashion and react accordingly. “For my pro-immigrant respondents, the fact that people risked life and limb to cross Arizona’s Sonoran Desert was evidence of the state’s coercive power,” Emine Fidan Elcioglu writes in Divided by the Wall: Progressive and Conservative Immigration Politics at the U.S.-Mexico Border. “For restrictionist respondents, these circumstances proved that the state was anemic and overwhelmed.” As a result, “the ambiguities of the borderlands have created the conditions for controversy and mobilization.”
As the debate surrounding the U.S.-Mexican border continues on the airplane, Sam Wilson gathers his belongs and uses his Falcon wings to fly the rest of the way to New York on his own. For Americans in the real-world, however, there is often no escape from the contradictions, divisions, and increasingly politicized rhetoric surrounding the border – as well as a host of other issues facing the nation as well.
Anthony Letizia