Officer Arnold Davis (Arnie) Character Analysis

Officer Arnold Davis, also known as Arnie, is a black Border Patrol agent working on loan in San Diego. He's worked for the government for the last twenty-seven years, and he finds the changes happening within Border Patrol unsavory. Namely, he thinks that the Border Patrol’s focus on terrorists is overblown, especially on the Mexican-American border. To combat this, he thinks often about his desire to retire to Colorado. When he meets Nayeli, he doesn't believe her story about the quest, but he finds it entertaining and buys her snacks. Later, when he encounters her on a bus on her way back from Illinois, Arnie realizes that she was telling the truth. His intense frustration with the government and his sense of security in his job leads him to smuggle Nayeli and Tacho back to San Diego so that they can finish their mission, even though doing so poses a substantial professional risk for him.