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March 13 - March 20, 2022
“Tell me how it ends, Mamma.” Luiselli has no answers for her. There are, as yet, no happy endings,
The problem with trying to tell their story is that it has no beginning, no middle, and no end.
It is not even the American Dream that they pursue, but rather the more modest aspiration to wake up from the nightmare into which they were born.
“When did you enter the United States?”
“With whom did you travel to this country?” and “Did you travel with anyone you knew?”
“What countries did you pass through?” and “How did you travel here?”
Children chase after life, even if that chase might end up killing them. Children run and flee. They have an instinct for survival, perhaps, that allows them to endure almost anything just to make it to the other side of horror, whatever may be waiting there for them.
By law, the maximum time a person can remain in the icebox is seventy-two hours, but children are often kept for longer,
We know better than to contradict anyone who carries a badge and a gun, so we just say: Yes, sir. Because—how do you explain that it is never inspiration that drives you to tell a story, but rather a combination of anger and clarity? How do you say: No, we do not find inspiration here, but we find a country that is as beautiful as it is broken, and we are somehow now part of it, so we are also broken with it, and feel ashamed, confused, and sometimes hopeless, and are trying to figure out how to do something about all that.
“Did anything happen on your trip to the U.S. that scared you or hurt you?”
Rapes: eighty percent of the women and girls who cross Mexico to get to the U.S. border are raped on the way. The situation is so common that most of them take contraceptive precautions as they begin the journey north. Abductions: in 2011, the National Human Rights Commission in Mexico published a special report on immigrant abductions and kidnappings, revealing that the number of abduction victims between April and September 2010—a period of just six months—was 11,333. Deaths and disappearances: though it’s impossible to establish an actual number, some sources estimate that, since 2006,
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“Has anyone hurt, threatened, or frightened you since you came to the U.S.?”
“How do you like where you’re living now?”; “Are you happy here?”; “Do you feel safe?”
“Have your parents or siblings been the victim of a crime since they came to the U.S.?” and “Was it reported to the police?”
“Do you still have any family members that live in your home country?”; “Are you in touch with anyone in your home country?”; “Who/how often?”
“Do you have any other close family members who live in the U.S.?”; “Immigration status?”
“Who did you live with in your home country?”; “Did you ever live with anyone else?”; “How did you get along with the people with whom you lived?”
“Did you stay in touch with your parents?”
Mexican children detained by Border Patrol can be deported back immediately.
Did you go to school in your country of origin?
How old were you when you started going to school?
When did you stop going to school?
Why not?
“Did you work in your home country?”; “What sort of work did you do?”; “How many hours did you work each day?”
Did you ever get in trouble at home when you lived in your home country?
Were you punished if you did something wrong?
How often were you punished?
Did you or anyone in your family have an illness that required special attention?
“Did you ever have trouble with gangs or crime in your home country?”
Any problems with the government in your home country? If so, what happened?
I want to gnaw at the earth with my teeth, I want to take the earth apart bit by bit with dry, burning bites. I want to mine the earth till I find you, and kiss your noble skull, and un-shroud you, and return you.
“Have you ever been a member of a gang? Any tattoos?”
“What do you think will happen if you go back home?”
“Are you scared to return?
“Who would take care of you if you were to return to your home country?”
