Enrique's Journey

“The letter helped me obtain permission to ride atop the trains of four companies that operate freight trains up the length of Mexico. That way, the conductor would know when I was on board. I would tell them to be on the lookout for my signal. I’d wear a red rain jacket strapped around my waist and wave it if I was in dire danger. I tried to have a source in each region I’d be in, including his or her cell phone number, so I could call for help if I was in trouble.”

Nazario’s approach to researching immigration is multipronged. She interviews migrants, aid groups, and others involved in illegal immigration, and undertakes the journey herself. Her direct experiences riding the trains lend authenticity and immediacy to Enrique’s Journey. This quote describes a letter Nazario obtains from the personal assistant to Mexico’s president asking that the authorities and police cooperate with her reporting. The letter helps keep Nazario safe by alerting conductors of her presence on the trains. It also keeps her out of jail three times.

“The boy does not understand.”

The opening words of Chapter 1 capture Enrique’s confusion at his mother’s departure. This confusion turns into anger and resentment over time. When Enrique and Lourdes reunite more than a decade later, they are forced to confront the emotional wounds stemming from this pivotal moment.

“His mother never returns, and that decides Enrique’s fate.”

Enrique suffers psychologically after being abandoned. He struggles to regulate his emotions and turns to drugs to numb his pain. His abandonment also sets him on a harrowing quest to find his mother. Enrique’s abandonment, like that of tens of thousands of children in Central America and Mexico, made his suffering a foregone conclusion.

“‘There are days,’ Belky tells Aunt Rosa Amalia, ‘when I wake up and feel so alone.’” 

Although Enrique is the primary focus of Enrique’s Journey, Nazario describes the impact of Lourdes’s departure on the entire family. Belky becomes temperamental after her mother abandons her. She withdraws from her family and friends. Her self-esteem plumets. Unlike Enrique, whose love for his mother compels him to find her, Belky remains in Honduras. She sees her mother again for the first time during the Don Francisco interview, 17 years after being abandoned.

“He limps forward on bare feet, stumbling first one way, then another. His right shin is gashed. His upper lip is split. The left side of his face is swollen. He is crying.” 

Enrique suffers physically en route to find his mother. In addition to being thirsty and hungry, he is robbed and beaten on a train in Oaxaca. His injuries highlight the dangers migrants face on the long journey north. That these experiences do not break Enrique’s commitment to finding his mother demonstrates his perseverance and determination.

“You won’t tell anyone.” 

This quote emphasizes the vulnerability of migrants. Corrupt police officers and immigration agents are among the dangers migrants face on the road to the US. Enrique and four other migrants encounter two corrupt policemen while they are bathing in a river in Oaxaca. The officers put them in the back of their truck and demand 100 pesos. The officers release them, but not before warning them to keep quiet.

“In spite of everything, Enrique has failed again—he will not reach the United States this time, either. He tells himself over and over that he’ll just have to try again.” 

Enrique’s determination to find his mother is a running theme throughout the book. As he sits on the Bus of Tears to Guatemala, he wonders whether his efforts are worthwhile. Ultimately, he decides that the pain and sacrifices pale in comparison to finding his mother. Less determined individuals would have given up long before Enrique contemplates doing so. His perseverance in the face of extreme odds calls attention to his love for his mother and to the emotional toll abandonment has on children.

“The train ate him up.” 

Riding the trains is dangerous. Migrants must run alongside them, jump on, and stay on. One false move can cause migrants to fall off and get swept under the wheels. Enrique encounters many migrants who lost limbs to trains. That so many migrants continue to ride the trains speaks to their desperation to reach the US.

“‘Chiapas,’ he says, ‘is a cemetery with no crosses, where people die without even getting a prayer.’” 

A priest at a migrant shelter compares Chiapas to a cemetery to underscore the dangers migrants face when they cross through the state. Bandits, immigration officials, and corrupt police officers are among the obstacles blocking the path north. Many migrants die along the way. Some fall off the trains, while others fall victim to criminals. Migrants refer to Chiapas as “the beast” because it is the most dangerous leg of the trip.

“‘God needs you. He doesn’t need you with all your limbs. He needs your heart. You have much to give.’” 

The speaker of this quote is Olga, the director of a migrant shelter in Chiapas. Olga lost two fingers in a factory accident when she was a teenager. Years later, she was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Olga made a pact with God: If he saved her, she would devote her life to helping others. In this quote Olga reminds migrants to persevere against the odds. Her missing fingers did not prevent her from raising money and opening a shelter, just as the dangers migrants face on the road north should not stop them from pushing forward.

“It’s wrong for our government to send people back to Central America. If we don’t want to be stopped from going into the United States, how can we stop Central Americans in our country?” 

This passage addresses immigration from a Mexican’s perspective. Many Mexicans believe that Central American migrants take jobs and government resources away from citizens, echoing the view many Americans have about Mexicans. The speaker points to the hypocrisy of this stance and opposes his government’s policy of deporting Central Americans.

“Can you imagine how far they have come?”

This quote humanizes migrants. The people of Veracruz are generally sympathetic to their plight, unlike the citizens of other Mexican states. Migrants find support in churches, where they are fed, clothed, and reminded that Jesus was a migrant. Having passed through Chiapas, they welcome the kindness and generosity they receive in Veracruz. This stage of the journey strengthens their bodies and renews their hope.

“Thank you for returning to your country.” 

American border patrol agents shout these words into bullhorns when migrants attempt to cross the Rio Grande. Their goal is to prevent undocumented immigrants from entering the country. They patrol the road along the river in SUVs, shining spotlights on any migrants they see. The river and the agents are the final obstacles standing in the migrants’ way. Beyond lies America, a symbol of hope and opportunity.

“Enrique shares one of five soiled, soggy mattresses with three other migrants. Still others lie on pieces of cardboard.” 

Enrique’s ordeal does not end when he reaches the US-Mexico border. The encampment on the edge of the Rio Grande is noisy and dirty. Migrants share the space with drug users and criminals, including former gang members. Enrique survives because of the generosity of others. Church organizations give him food, other migrants protect and advise him, and El Tiríndaro takes him under his wing.

“The conversation is awkward. His mother is a stranger.” 

Separation has a profound impact on Enrique’s relationship with his mother. The conversation is stilted when he calls her from Nuevo Laredo after spending 12 years apart. Their estrangement grows more pronounced when they are reunited in the United States.

“Lourdes is always thinking about the two children she left in Honduras. When she walks by stores that sell things they might like, she thinks of Enrique and Belky.” 

Enrique’s Journey addresses the suffering of the story’s protagonist as well as that of his mother. Lourdes feels guilty for abandoning her children. Although she started a new family and likes living in North Carolina, Enrique and Belky are never far from her thoughts. Addressing the lasting impact of immigration on families is one of the most important contributions of Nazario’s book.

“We have your son in Texas, but $1,200 is not enough. $1,700.” 

Migrants are poor, desperate, and easily exploited. In this quote Enrique informs his mother that his coyotes are demanding more money than they originally agreed upon. This is one of many examples of unscrupulous people taking advantage of migrants’ desperation for personal gain.

“People come here to prosper. You have nothing here. What have you accomplished?” 

Abandonment and immigration’s impact on families is a key theme in Nazario’s book. Enrique is initially happy to reunite with his mother, but their relationship soon deteriorates. He resents his mother for abandoning him, starting a new family, and never coming to visit. In this quote he lashes out by pointing out his mother’s failures. Lourdes reacts with guilt and defensiveness.

“Jasmín waves with both hands and calls out, ‘Adiós, mami. Adiós, mami. Adiós, mami.’” 

Nazario highlights the cyclical nature of abandonment. María Isabel leaves Jasmín without offering an explanation or saying goodbye, mirroring Lourdes’s actions at the book’s outset. Jasmín does not know that her mother is permanently moving to the US, just as Enrique was unaware that Lourdes was moving. The poor in Central America and Mexico face the hard choice of keeping their families intact or abandoning their children to provide for them.

“I lost their childhood. Sometimes, you feel bad.” 

Poor parents in Central America and Mexico face difficult choices. They can remain impoverished in their home countries, or they immigrate to the United States to provide materially for their children. Lourdes discusses this dilemma in her interview with Don Francisco. She has come to understand how difficult it was for Enrique and Belky after she left. She also mourns missing their childhood.

“To instill fear and earn greater notoriety, gangs in Honduras target and kill famous people.” 

Nazario’s book brought the migrants’ plight to the attention of Americans. It also garnered attention from gangs, who target and kill people in the public eye to gain power and control. The Zeta gang in Mexico has gone after members of Enrique’s family. Enrique fears that he will also be targeted if he is deported from the United States.

“This isn’t worth it. In the end, you lose your kids.” 

As a special education teacher at the Newcomer School in Los Angeles opines, immigrating to the United States from Central America and Mexico is not worth the trouble. The journey is expensive, dangerous, and costs parents their children. Enrique’s Journey underscores the impact of immigration on families: Children suffer emotionally from abandonment, while parents struggle with feelings of guilt. In Lourdes and Enrique’s case, the parent-child relationship takes years to mend.

“The effect of immigration has been family disintegration. People are leaving behind the most important value: family unity.” 

Oscar Escalada Hernández, director of the Casa YMCA shelter for immigrant children in Tijuana, addresses immigration and child abandonment. Family disintegration causes lasting and, in some cases, irreparable emotional damage. It impacts parents and their children, and also communities. As Nazario observes, some abandoned children become restless adults who cannot forgive their parents, while others turn to drugs to cope with their pain. Mothers leave their children to offer them better lives, but they do not focus on the ramifications of their decisions. In the end, they trade one set of problems for another.