Enrique's Journey Part 19

The description of Maria Isabel's childhood, her move to her aunt Gloria's house, and her devotion to Enrique is from Gloria, Maria Isabel, her sister Rosario, her brother Miguel, her mother, Eva, and from time I spent at Gloria's and Eva's homes in Tegucigalpa.

The account of life in El Infiernito is from my visit to the neighborhood accompanied by the teacher Jenery Adialinda Castillo. I accompanied the Tegucigalpa priest Eduardo Martin on his evening rounds to feed glue-sniffing homeless children.

Enrique's attempt to reach his mother in 1999 was corroborated by Jose del Carmen Bustamante, his companion on the journey.

2. SEEKING MERCY.

Enrique's experiences in and around Las Anonas were written from interviews with Sirenio Gomez Fuentes; Mayor Carlos Carrasco; Carrasco's mother, Lesbia Sibaja; residents Beatriz Carrasco Gomez, Gloria Luis, and other villagers; San Pedro Tapanatepec mayor Adan Diaz Ruiz; and the mayor's driver, Ricardo Diaz Aguilar. I visited the Fuentes home, the Las Anonas church, and the mango tree where Enrique collapsed.

Manuel de Jesus Molina, who in 2000 served as a.s.sistant to the mayor of Ixtepec, a nearby town, said that Enrique's experience of being robbed by the judicial police was common in the area. The denial that judicial police rob people comes from Sixto Juarez, chief of the Agencia Federal de Investigacion in Arriaga, Mexico.

The estimate of how much a wounded migrant costs the nearest hospital comes from personnel at the Hospital Civil in Arriaga, Mexico.

The account of how Mexican immigration officers shake down Central American migrants comes from retired immigration agent C. Faustino Chacon Cruz Cabrera.

The descriptions of Enrique's first six attempts are from interviews with Enrique and from my observations of other migrants along the same route. I visited the spot near Medias Aguas where Enrique had been stung by bees. I went to the Tapachula cemetery and the mausoleum where Enrique had slept. The cemetery caretaker, Miguel angel Perez Hernandez, and Mario Campos Gutierrez, a supervisory agent with the government migrant rights group Grupo Beta, provided information about recent violence in the graveyard. The annual number of deportees from Mexico is from the National Migration Inst.i.tute of Mexico.

The description of the violence and gangs in the Guatemalan border town of Tecun Uman comes from Father Ademar Barilli and Marvin G.o.dinez at the Casa del Migrante shelter in Tecun Uman and from Flaudio Perez Villagres, head of the tricycle taxi union in the town.

The beating on the train is from interviews with Enrique and residents of Las Anonas and San Pedro Tapanatepec. Robberies in which migrants are stripped and hurled from trains are commonplace, according to Grupo Beta, whose officers occasionally patrol the trains; Father Flor Maria Rigoni, a Catholic priest at the Albergue Belen migrant shelter in Tapachula, Chiapas; Baltasar Soriano Peraza, a caseworker at the shelter; and other migrants who have been robbed on the trains by street gangsters. Railroad personnel and Mayor Carrasco estimated how fast the trains travel in the area.

How Maria Isabel reacted to Enrique's departure and her decision to follow him come from Maria Isabel, her aunt Gloria, and her mother, Eva.

Enrique's medical condition and treatment are from Enrique and Dr. Guillermo Toledo Montes, who treated him. Mayor Diaz provided the doctor's receipt detailing Enrique's treatment. I visited the clinic and the police command post where Enrique slept.

Detailed cases of migrants' injuries at the Arriaga hospital come from my interview with the president of Arriaga's Red Cross first aid responders, Isaac Santelis de los Santos, and hospital social worker Isabel Barragan Torres. I reviewed the hospital files of all injured migrants between 1999 and 2003.

The bus ride to Guatemala is from interviews with Enrique, migrants on the bus, and my observations while riding the bus to El Carmen, Guatemala, where the trip ends. How street gangsters rob riders is from Baltasar Soriano Peraza, the caseworker at the Albergue Belen shelter; the Mexican immigration agent Fernando Armento Juan, who accompanies migrants on the bus; and migrants, including Carlos Sandoval, a Salvadoran, who said he had been accosted by gangsters with ice picks.

3. FACING THE BEAST.

The crossing of the Rio Suchiate is from interviews with Enrique, other migrants who made the crossing, and my observations as I crossed on a raft. Facing Chiapas, "the beast," is from Father Flor Maria Rigoni. The lessons about Chiapas are from Enrique, other migrants, and Father Arturo Francisco Herrera Gonzalez, a Catholic priest who helps migrants at the Parroquia de San Vicente Ferrer in Juchitan, Oaxaca.

The story of how Enrique slept in the Tapachula cemetery and ran for the train comes from interviews with Enrique and from my observations at the cemetery of the ritual of running for the train. I accompanied the Tapachula munic.i.p.al police on a dawn raid of the cemetery, did a tour of the cemetery with its caretaker, and visited the crypt where Enrique had slept. To describe Enrique's trip to a Tapachula jail, I accompanied migrants who were captured by police and taken to the same lockup. The train's speed is from Jorge Reinoso, who in 2000 was chief of operations for the Ferrocarriles Chiapas-Mayab railroad, and from Julio Cesar Cancino Galvez, an officer of Grupo Beta, who is a former Tapachula train crewman. "The train ate him up" comes from Emilio Canteros Mendez, an engineer for Ferrocarriles Chiapas-Mayab, and was confirmed by migrants I met on the trains. The dangers of Chiapas were explained by Father Rigoni.

The description of how a train feels and choosing where to ride and what to carry is from Enrique and from my observations and interviews with migrants while riding on two freight trains through Chiapas. Reinoso provided information about the age and condition of tracks in Chiapas and the frequency of derailments, one of which I witnessed. Train nicknames are from migrants, Grupo Beta officers, and former crewman Julio Cesar Cancino Galvez.

Tales of avoiding branches and what migrants yell when they see a branch come from Enrique and from my observations on the top of a train when a migrant was knocked off. Julio Cesar Cancino Galvez and several train conductors explained the various reasons trains sometimes must stop.

The a.s.sertion that agents shoot at migrants at the La Arrocera checkpoint comes from C. Faustino Chacon Cruz Cabrera; Hugo angeles Cruz, an immigration expert at the Colegio de la Frontera Sur in Tapachula, Mexico; railroad employees who said they had witnessed such shootings, including Jose Agustin Tamayo Chamorro, chief of operations at Ferrosur railroad, and Emilio Canteros Mendez; and migrants who said agents had fired at them at La Arrocera, including Selvin Terraza Chan, twenty-one, Jose Alberto Ruiz Mendez, fifteen, and Juan Joel de Jesus Villareal, fifteen. Hernan Bonilla, twenty-seven, showed Enrique and me scars he said came from cigarette burns received from immigration agents in the area.

The madrinas' efforts at La Arrocera come from Elba Flores Nunez, a former coordinator of the Centro de Derechos Humanos Tepeyac del Istmo de Tehuantepec, a rights group; Reyder Cruz Toledo, the police chief in Arriaga, Chiapas; Jorge Zarif Zetuna Curioca, a former mayor of Ixtepec; Mario Campos Gutierrez; C. Faustino Chacon Cruz Cabrera; and a La Arrocera resident, Guillermina Galvez Lopez.

The dangers of La Arrocera were detailed by Enrique, other migrants, Grupo Beta officers, and the immigration agent Marco Tulio Carballo Cabrera at the nearby Hueyate immigration station. I observed migrants' anxiety as they approached the checkpoint on two train rides through La Arrocera. Migrants pleading for help when they suffered electric shock is from Guillermina Galvez Lopez. How migrants hide their money is from migrants I met riding on the trains. Enrique's run around La Arrocera comes from Enrique; Clemente Delporte Gomez, a former Grupo Beta Sur officer; and my observations as I walked around the checkpoint, witnessed two bandit chases, and entered the brick house where women had been raped.

The description of bandits and their activities at La Arrocera is from Julio Cesar Cancino Galvez, who again accompanied me to the checkpoint in 2003. I obtained additional information about bandits then from local migra supervisor Widmar Borrallas Lopez and La Arrocera railside residents Amelia Lopez Gamboa, Jorge Alberto Hernandez, Virgilio Mendes Ramirez, Maria del Carmen Torres Garcia, and three men who feared giving their names. I also took a tour of the bandits' favorite bars in the nearby town of Huixtla.

The strategies for preventing rape were detailed by Grupo Beta officers and Monica Oropeza, executive director of Albergue Juvenil del Desierto, a migrant shelter for minors in Mexicali, Mexico. The 1997 University of Houston study "Potentially Traumatic Events Among Unaccompanied Migrant Children from Central America" details the dangers. The AIDS warning that girls write on their chests is from Olivia Ruiz, a cultural anthropologist at the Colegio de la Frontera Norte in Tijuana, who researches the dangers migrants face riding trains through Chiapas.

The Cuil bridge ambushes were described by Clemente Delporte Gomez and Grupo Beta Sur officer Jose Alfredo Ruiz Chamec.

The dislike of Central American migrants comes from migrants, professor Hugo angeles Cruz, and Tapachula residents, including Miguel angel Perez Hernandez, Guillermina Galvez Lopez, and Juan Perez. While riding trains through Chiapas, I witnessed Mexican children pelting migrants with rocks.

Maria Isabel's foiled plan to follow Enrique to the United States comes from Maria Isabel; her mother, Eva; her aunt Gloria; and Gloria's daughter Gloria Elizabeth Chavez.

The account of heat on the train and how migrants stayed awake is from Enrique. I witnessed migrants doing similar things to stay cool and awake, including Reynaldo Matamorros, who strapped himself to the end of a hopper car to nap; Jose Rodas Orellana, who took amphetamines; and Jose Donald Morales Enriques, who did squats. I rode on one train where a chorus broke out at 4 A.M.

How gangsters stalk migrants is from Grupo Beta officers, Baltasar Soriano Peraza, and my observations on the trains. Information about gangsters forcing two boys to have s.e.x together is from Jose Enrique Oliva Rosa and Jose Luis Oliva Rosa, fifteen-year-old twins who rode on a train where the incident occurred.

The a.s.sertion that the judicial police conducted shakedowns at San Ramon and threatened migrants is from Emilio Canteros Mendez, an engineer on the Ferrocarriles Chiapas-Mayab railroad. Some migrants, including Dennis Ivan Contreras, twelve, told me that officers at San Ramon had made similar statements to them. The denial that judicial police engage in such robberies is from Sixto Juarez, chief of the Agencia Federal de Investigacion in nearby Arriaga.

For how migrants are devoured by the train, in 2000 I interviewed Carlos Roberto Diaz Osorto in his hospital bed in Arriaga, Chiapas. I later viewed his medical file.

In 2003, I spent two weeks with Olga Sanchez Martinez. I spent time with Olga at her shelter as she dressed migrants' wounds and accompanied her to church, to a prosthesis maker, to sell used clothing, on rounds at the local hospital, on a beach outing with injured migrants, and in her efforts in the middle of the night to find a casket for someone who had just died at her shelter.

To write about Olga, I spoke with migrants living at her Shelter of Jesus the Good Shepherd, including Transito Encarnacion Martines Hernandez, Fausto Mejillas Guerrero, Leti Isabela Mejia Yanes, Hugo Tambris Siop, Edwin Bertotty Baquerano, Juan Carlos Hernandez, Francis...o...b..ltran Domin-guez, Efren Morales Ramirez, Carlos Lopez, Fredy Antonio avila, and Mario Castro. I interviewed Olga; her husband, Jordan Matus Vasquez; her friends; and shelter volunteers Marilu Hernandez Hernandez, Fernando Hernandez Lopez, Roldan Mendoza Garcia, and Carmen Aguilar de Mendoza. At the Tapachula general hospital, I interviewed three people who had observed Olga's work: the doctors Jorge Luis Antonio alvarez and Jose Luis Solorzano, and a hospital social worker, Margarita Marquez Moran.

I observed Wendy hours after the rape and interviewed several migrants who had been with her when the incident occurred.

Enrique's time in Ixtepec comes from Enrique and my observations as I retraced his steps in Ixtepec.

4. GIFTS AND FAITH.

The description of the statue of Christ is from interviews with Enrique and from my observation of other migrants on a train pa.s.sing the same statue. Information about religious items, Bible readings, and how migrants show their faith is from migrants Marco Antonio Euseda, Oscar Alfredo Molina, and Cesar Gutierrez. I heard migrant Marlon Sosa Cortez recite the prayer to the Holy Trinity as he rode on top of a train.

The a.s.sertion that Oaxacans are friendlier is from interviews with Enrique and other migrants, as well as Jorge Zarif Zetuna Curioca, the former mayor of Ixtepec; Juan Ruiz, the former police chief of Ixtepec; and train engineer Isaias Palacios.

The exchange between food throwers and Enrique comes from Enrique and is similar to words I heard while observing food throwers in various towns and as food throwers in Encinar, Veracruz, threw bananas and crackers onto a train I was riding. In Veracruz, I interviewed food throwers in several villages. At Encinar: angela Andrade Cruz; Jesus Gonzalez Roman, his sister Magdalena Gonzalez Roman, and their mother, Esperanza Roman Gonzalez; Mariano Cortes; and Marta Santiago Flores and her son Leovardo. At Fortin de las Flores: Ciro Gonzalez Ramos, his children Erika and Fabian, and a former neighbor, Leticia Rebolledo. At Cuichapa: Soledad Vasquez and her mother, Maria Luisa Mora Martin. At Presidio: Ramiro Lopez Contreras and his son Ruben Lopez Juarez. The 2000 World Bank study cited is "The Effect of IMF and World Bank Programs on Poverty." Rural malnutrition information is from Mexico's 1999 national nutrition survey, conducted by the Inst.i.tuto Nacional de Salud Publica.

In 2003, I interviewed various Veracruz church members who helped migrants with food, shelter, or protection from the police, including Raquel Flores Lamora, Baltasar Breniz avila, Francisca Aguirre Juarez, and Maria del Carmen Ortega Garcia.

For the account of the decision to help migrants at the Parroquia Maria Auxiliadora in Rio Blanco, Veracruz, I relied on the priest Salamon Lemus Lemus; the volunteers Luis Hernandez Osorio, Gregoria Sanchez Romero, and Leopoldo Francisco Maldonado Gutierrez; the church cook, Rosa Tlehuactle Anastacio; the church secretary, Irene Rodriguez Rivera; Father Julio Cesar Trujillo Velasquez, the director of media affairs for the Diocese of Orizaba; and Monsignor Hipolito Reyes Larios, the Catholic bishop of Orizaba.

The beating of migrants in El Campesino El Mirador is from Maria Enriqueta Reyes Marquez, who witnessed the incident, and Samuel Ramirez del Carmen of the Mendoza, Veracruz, Red Cross.

The types of train cargoes and the cost of migrant injuries are from Cuauhtemoc Gonzalez Flores, chief of accident investigations for the Transportacion Ferroviaria Mexicana railroad.

Enrique's robbery at the Cordoba station is from Enrique and from my observations at the shed where it happened. Other migrants gave accounts of similar robberies at Cordoba. The camaraderie with others aboard the train north of Orizaba and preparations for the cold to come are from Enrique and from my observations of other migrants at Orizaba. The description of tunnels is from Enrique and the switchman Juan Carlos Salcedo, and from observations by Los Angeles Times photographer Don Bartletti and me as we rode through the tunnels on top of a freight train. Information on the danger of the El Mexicano tunnel is from Jose Agustin Tamayo Chamorro of the Ferrosur railroad. What migrants yell as they ride through the tunnels and what they do to keep warm are from Enrique, confirmed by my observations.

In 2000, I found the Mexico City culvert where Enrique waited for a train. In 2003, I returned to interview Lecheria residents Olivia Rodriguez Morales and Oscar Aereola Peregrino and Lecheria station personnel director Jose Patricio Sanchez Arrellano, who gave me a tour and history of the station. The account of the electrical lines in Mexico City is from Enrique and Cuauhtemoc Gonzalez Flores of Transportacion Ferroviaria Mexicana, and from my observations at the railroad's computer center.

The number of security officers at the San Luis Potosi station is from Marcelo Rodriguez, chief of security at the station for Transportacion Ferroviaria Mexicana.

Enrique's stay in San Luis Potosi making bricks comes from Enrique and interviews with brick makers, including Gregorio Ramos, Jose Morales Portillo, and Juan Perez. His trip to Matehuala is from Enrique and from my observations during a bus ride on the same route.

The reluctance of truck drivers to give migrants a ride was confirmed by Modesto Reyes Santiago, a truck driver, and Faustina Olivares, owner of the No Que No diner, which is frequented by truckers. I also hitchhiked on a truck between Matehuala and Nuevo Laredo.

5. ON THE BORDER.

The description of how migrants arrived in Nuevo Laredo after having lost the phone numbers they were carrying comes from Deacon Esteban Ramirez Rodriguez of the Parroquia de Guadalupe in Reynosa, Mexico, and several migrant children stranded in Nuevo Laredo, including Ermis Galeano and Kelvin Maradiaga. Migrant twins Jose Enrique Oliva Rosa and Jose Luis Oliva Rosa told of having been kidnapped.

The reluctance to help Central Americans was depicted by Raymundo Ramos Vasquez, director of Comite de Derechos Humanos, Grupo 5 de Febrero, a human rights group in Nuevo Laredo, and Marco Antonio Valdez, a resident. The statement that Jesus was a migrant comes from Oscar Alvarado, caretaker for the Parroquia de San Jose's migrant shelter, and was confirmed by Enrique and other migrants.

The description of the encampment is from Enrique and camp residents Hernan Bonilla, Miguel Olivas, Luis Moreno Guzman, and Jorge Enrique Morales, as well as from my observations at the camp.

I observed Enrique was.h.i.+ng cars for money.

The account of meal cards comes from Father Filiberto Luviano Mendoza at the Parroquia del Santo Nino and volunteer Leti Limon at the Parroquia de San Jose. Migrant Miguel Olivas described the meal-card black market.

I observed dinner for migrants at the Parroquia de San Jose and how migrants gathered around the map of Texas after the meal to discuss their route. Father Leonardo Lopez Guajardo at the Parroquia de San Jose calculated the percentage of the church's meals that go to children. I interviewed and observed the lives of other children Enrique met in Nuevo Laredo who were also going to find their mothers, including Ermis Galeano, Mery Gabriela Posas Izaguirre, her aunt Lourdes, and Kelvin Maradiaga.

Talk of hards.h.i.+ps and injuries during the trip north by migrants outside the Parroquia de San Jose comes from my observations of these conversations and from Maria del Tepeyac, a nun who ran the church's medical clinic.

The portrayal of El Tirindaro, his heroin habit, and his protection of Enrique is from my observations and interviews with Enrique and the camp residents Miguel Olivas, Hernan Bonilla, and Omar Martinez Torres. In 2003, I interviewed one of El Tirindaro's Los Osos a.s.sociates, Juan Barajas Soto, when he was in the Nuevo Laredo jail, Centro de Readaptacion Social No. 1, who provided additional details about El Tirindaro, Los Osos, and Enrique's stay at the encampment. The migrant Jorge Enrique Morales gave Enrique bits of tacos and contributed to the picture of life at the camp.

Enrique's account of the Nuevo Laredo jail was corroborated by Raymundo Ramos Vasquez at the human rights group Comite de Derechos Humanos, Grupo 5 de Febrero. The account of Enrique sleeping in the abandoned house, which I visited, comes from Enrique and photographer Don Bartletti's observations.

The rendering of Mother's Day comes from Central American mothers, including agueda Navarro, Belinda Caceres, Orbelina Sanchez, and Lourdes Izaguirre, and from my observations as they consoled one another. A mother's prayer to live is from my observations as I watched Lourdes Izaguirre pray.

Lourdes's thoughts and actions after her son left home are from Lourdes and were confirmed by her cousin Maria Edelmira Sanchez Mejia, with whom Lourdes spoke at the time.

Enrique's glue-sniffing habits are from Hernan Bonilla and from my observations. Juan Barajas Soto, who was interviewed at the jail in Nuevo Laredo in 2003, recalled Enrique's hallucinogenic talks with trees at the camp and about wanting to be with his mother.

I saw Enrique shortly after he got his tattoo and watched as he struggled to obtain his second phone card. Enrique's effort to beg for money in downtown Nuevo Laredo is from Enrique and Hernan Bonilla.

The dangers of the river and checkpoints come from the migrants Miguel Olivas, Hernan Bonilla, and Fredy Ramirez; the U.S. Border Patrol supervisor Alexander D. Hernandez and officers Charles Grout and Manuel Sauceda in Cotulla, Texas; and my observations.

The description of the desert dangers is from interviews with the migrants Miguel Olivas, Gonzalo Rodriguez Toledo, Luis Moreno Guzman, Elsa Galarza, Leonicio Alejandro Hernandez, Mario Alberto Hernandez, and Manuel Gallegos; U.S. Border Patrol agents Charles Grout and Manuel Sauceda and the dog handler Ramon Lopez; and my observations while accompanying agents for three days on the Texas border. I observed Franca running alongside the train while on patrol with Cotulla Border Patrol agents. I was on hand when the migrant Isaias Guerra was caught and described his desert ordeal. The General Accounting Office says at least 367 migrants died crossing the southwestern border into the United States in 2000.

The account of Leonardo Lopez Guajardo's a.s.sistance to migrants comes from an interview with the priest in 2000 and with Sisters Elizabeth Rangel and Maria del Tepeyac. In 2003, I spent a week with the priest. I followed him to church; as he said Ma.s.s in a cemetery and to incarcerated prisoners; and as he traveled throughout Laredo, Texas, and Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, to pick up donated food, clothing, and other items. I interviewed people who donated goods to the priest, including Sister Isidra Valdez, Lydia Garza, Rosalinda Zapata, Margarita Vargas, and Eduardo Brizuela Amor. I spent time with two nuns helping him, Sisters Leonor Palacios and Juanita Montecillo.

To better understand the priest and his work with migrants, I spoke with the church secretaries Alma Delia Jimenez Renteria and Maria Elena Pineda de Aguilar, and the church volunteers Patricia Aleman Pena, Miguel Delgadillo Esparza, Pedro and Leti Leyva, Jose Guadalupe Ramirez, Horacio Gomez Luna, Rogelio Santos Aguilar, Rocio Galvan Garcia, Juana R. Cancino Gomez, and Felipa Luna Moreno. I interviewed Carlos Martin Ramirez, a doctor who treats migrants pro bono for the priest. I spoke with the church's neighbors Juana Mexicano de Acosta and Juan Acosta Hernandez.

6. A DARK RIVER, PERHAPS A NEW LIFE.

Enrique's 1 A.M. departure is drawn from interviews with Enrique and migrant Hernan Bonilla, who witnessed the departure, as well as my subsequent observation of the staging area on the south bank of the Rio Grande and my observation of other nighttime crossings and pursuits by the U.S. Border Patrol. El Tirindaro's words to Enrique and the two Mexicans about getting caught are from Enrique. Other migrants told me that this is a standard speech from smugglers to migrants before they cross the river.

The drowning in the river is from Enrique and other migrants, including three at the Parroquia de San Jose. The migrants said they had watched a youngster named Ricki drown in a whirlpool two nights before.

The account of crossing to the island and then to the United States is from interviews with Enrique and from my subsequent observation of the island from Enrique's crossing site on the south bank of the river. I retraced Enrique's steps on both sides of the river and went to the spot where he had first touched U.S. soil. I retraced his run along Zacate Creek, past a sewage treatment plant, and up an embankment into a residential area on the outskirts of Laredo.

A description of the jails where migrant children are held when they are caught by U.S. authorities comes from time I spent in these facilities, including a week at Los Angeles's Los Padrinos Juvenile Detention Center and a week in the Liberty County Jail in Liberty, Texas. I also spent a week at a shelter where migrants are held in Los Fresnos, Texas, operated by International Educational Services, and a similar shelter in San Diego, California.

Corrections Corporation of America has denied allegations that the children in its custody were not adequately fed; however, the jail in Liberty, Texas, operated by Corrections Corporation of America no longer houses immigrant children. Immigrant children detained by the Border Patrol entering the country illegally are now handled by the Office of Refugee Resettlement within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, an agency which uses jails sparingly and favors more nurturing open shelters and foster care.

The description of how Border Patrol agents spot suspect vehicles comes from Alexander D. Hernandez, supervisory agent for the Border Patrol at Cotulla, Texas, during a patrol along the same stretch of highway in south Texas that Enrique's smugglers used. The depictions of how Enrique bypa.s.sed the Border Patrol checkpoint come, in part, from my observations during a visit to the checkpoint.

Lourdes's life in North Carolina and the description of her photos are from Lourdes, her boyfriend, and other immigrants who lived with them. She showed me the photos of her children.

The account of Enrique's calls from Dallas to his mother comes from Enrique, his mother, and her boyfriend.

The ride from Florida to North Carolina is from my observations as I retraced the North Carolina portion of the trip. Enrique's reunification and conversations come from Enrique, his sister Diana, Lourdes, and my observations as Enrique retraced his steps into the house, into the kitchen, down the hallways, and into his mother's room.

The reaction by Maria Isabel to Enrique's arrival in North Carolina is from Belky, her aunt Rosa Amalia, Maria Isabel, and her aunt Gloria.

The relations.h.i.+p between Enrique and his mother, including the resentment of immigrant children at having been left behind, is from Enrique, Lourdes, Diana, Lourdes's boyfriend, and his cousin, as well as Maria Olmos, princ.i.p.al of the Newcomer Center at Belmont High School, a school for immigrants in Los Angeles; Gabriel Murillo, a former counselor at Belmont; and Aldo Pumariega, the princ.i.p.al of the now closed Bellagio Road Newcomer School in Los Angeles.

The account of Enrique's job, earnings, and purchases is from my observations.

7. THE GIRL LEFT BEHIND.

The accounts of life for Enrique, Maria Isabel, Lourdes, her sister Mirian, and others are based on my trip to Honduras and North Carolina in 2003 and interviews with Enrique, Lourdes, and members of their families in Honduras and in the United States between 2000 and 2005. I spent a week in 2003 observing the lives of Maria Isabel and her daughter, Jasmin, in Honduras. I spent time at each of the three homes where Maria Isabel had lived in Tegucigalpa. I accompanied Maria Isabel to her job at the children's clothing store.

The description of Maria Isabel's life in Honduras is from Maria Isabel, her sister Rosario, her brother Miguel, her mother, Eva, and her aunt Gloria. I interviewed angela Emerita Nunez, the woman who first employed Maria Isabel and in whose house she often slept during her teen years, and angela's daughter, angela Maria Rivera. Suyapa Valeriano, who lives near Eva's home in Los Tubos and took phone calls from Enrique for Maria Isabel, also provided details.

Additional information comes from Enrique's maternal and paternal grandmothers, his sister Belky, his aunt Rosa Amalia, his uncle Carlos, and Lourdes's cousin Maria Edelmira.

To better understand Los Tubos, the neighborhood where Maria Isabel lived with her mother, I took a tour of the area with Reina Rodriguez and Maria Isabel Sosa of the local health clinic, the Centro de Salud El Bosque. Oscar Orlando Ortega Almendares of the health center provided a history of the neighborhood and of Maria Isabel's family. I spoke with Jose Luis Pineda Martinez, the director of the local school Maria Isabel attended, the Escuela 14 de Julio. I interviewed Cydalia de Sandoval, president of the Asociacion Damas de la Caridad San Vicente de Paul, which runs a local day-care center and orphanage, and with Argentina Valeriano, owner of the neighborhood bodega, the Pulperia Norma.

The description of Honduras's economic and social conditions comes from Maureen Zamora, a migration expert in Honduras; Marta Obando at UNICEF's Honduras office; Norberto Giron with the International Organization for Migration; Glenda Gallardo, the princ.i.p.al economist, and Alex Calix, the director of national development information, at the United Nations Development Program in Honduras; Francis Jeanett Gomez Irias, a social worker with the Inst.i.tuto Hondureno de la Ninez y la Familia; Nubia Esther Gomez, a nurse with the program; and Leydi Karina Lopez, the head of human resources of S. J. Mariol, a clothing factory in Tegucigalpa. I also consulted doc.u.ments in the UNICEF library in Tegucigalpa.

For the depiction of Enrique's life in North Carolina with Lourdes between 2000 and 2005, I spoke with Enrique, a fellow painter and friend, Enrique's boss, Lourdes, her boyfriend, the boyfriend's son, the boyfriend's brother, Lourdes's daughter Diana, and her sister Mirian.

AFTERWORD.

The number of undoc.u.mented children in the United States is from the 2005 Pew Hispanic Center study by senior research a.s.sociate Jeffrey Pa.s.sell ent.i.tled "Unauthorized Migrants: Numbers and Characteristics."

Chiapas's troubles with Central American gangs are from Gabriela Coutino, a spokeswoman for the National Immigration Inst.i.tute in Tapachula. The a.s.sertion that the number of migrants injured by the trains has doubled since Enrique's journey is from Grupo Beta Sur, social workers at Tapachula's general hospital, and Olga Sanchez Martinez, who runs a shelter for the injured.

Changes in where and how the train stops for Mexican authorities to grab migrants come from Coutino; Julio Cesar Cancino Galvez of Grupo Beta Sur; Widmar Borrallas Lopez, a supervisor at la migra's El Hueyate Station near La Arrocera; and Tres Hermanos resident Gregorio Ralon Villareal.

The number of Central Americans detained and deported by Mexico is from the National Immigration Inst.i.tute.

I spent time during 1999 and 2000 at Los Angeles's Newcomer School, where I interviewed dozens of mothers and children and attended cla.s.ses and student therapy and counseling sessions.

The 1997 National Research Council study cited is ent.i.tled "The New Americans: Economic, Demographic, and Fiscal Effects of Immigration." The 2003 Harvard University study about immigrant effects on wages is "The Labor Demand Curve Is Downward Sloping: Reexamining the Impact of Immigration on the Labor Market," by George J. Borjas, professor of economics and social policy at the John F. Kennedy School of Government.

I refer to stories in the Los Angeles Times: "For This Union, It's War," August 19, 1993, and "Natives, Newcomers at Odds in East L.A.," March 4, 1996.

The 1997 RAND study that discusses the excessive number of immigrants is "Immigration in a Changing Economy: The California Experience," by Kevin F. McCarthy and Georges Vernez.