Enrique’s Journey
1. PROLOGUE
Tell the group what the prologue is about. What are the main take-away points in the prologue?
How is the current wave of immigration different from past waves?
What kind of work are migrants coming for?
What was the author’s purpose in writing this story?
How did she go about writing the story?
2. CHAPTER ONE: THE BOY LEFT BEHIND
Recap Chapter One to your group.
How did Lourdes first learn about the US?
Why did she decide to leave Honduras?
How long did she think at first that she would be gone to the US before returning to Honduras?
How many unaccompanied, undocumented children are there per yer migrated to the US?
What is Enrique’s life in Honduras like when his mother leaves?
Is the US what Lourdes had imagined from what she saw on TV?
What are Lourdes’ efforts to become “legal”?
3. CHAPTER TWO: SEEKING MERCY
Tell the story of Chapter Two. What happens in the story?
How do judicial police treat the migrants?
The mayor of San Pedro Tapantepec makes a cost-benefit analysis between a “live migrant” and a “dead one”. What does he conclude?
Did Enrique make it on his first attempt?
Where do buses take migrants who are caught?
What happened to Enrique after he was beaten up?
Was it better for the police to let him sleep on the floor overnight or be turned over to la migra?
Why do so many migrants who travel the trains suffer amputations?
How does the rash of amputations symbolize the extreme vulnerability of these migrants?
4. CHAPTER THREE :FACING THE BEAST
Recap Chapter Three to your group.
Would you have the courage/tenacity to make this trip?
If not, at what point in Enrique’s Journey would you have stopped and given up?
What is el madrina?
Tell Olga’s story.
5. CHAPTER FOUR: GIFTS AND FAITH(Don’t limit your talk to your classmates to this set of questions but do discuss these questions).
Recap the Chapter for your group.
Many Mexicans look down on Central American migrants who try to migrate to the US through Mexico, but feel that they should be able to migrate to the US. A quote by a man who lives on the tracks (page 103) speaks to this hypocrisy :”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?” What do you make of this?
In which state of Mexico were people generous to migrants, bringing them food and clothing?
How did this custom perhaps come about?
Tell the story of the church (pp. 111-114) and its divided membership about helping the migrants. What is the motivation of the police to arrest migrants and to harass those helping migrants?
Townspeople support migrants regarding police violence but understand that it is their job to send people back. Why do they have these conflicting beliefs?
6. CHAPTER FIVE: ON THE BORDER
Recap the Chapter for your group.
How many attempts did Enrique make before he actually reached the border?
Discuss the conflicting opinions of Mexicans along the border toward Mexican immigrants and Central American immigrants (p. 138).
What is the story of the patero?
When mothers leave for the US, they expect the separation from their children to be short, but what is the average time of separation?
What is the story of Padre Leo?
7. CHAPTER SIX: A DARK RIVER, PERHAPS A NEW LIFE
Recap the Chapter for your group.
Why did Enrique tear up his mother’s telephone number?
What are some of the struggles between children and their mothers when they are re-united?
What are the tensions between Enrique and his mother?
8. CHAPTER SEVEN: THE GIRL LEFT BEHIND
Recap the Chapter for your group.
What problems, addictions, behaviors does Enrique get into once in North Carolina? Why?
What finally motivated Enrique to get his act together?
What is the unemployment rate in Honduras? What disaster (and when was it) contributed to that high rate?
What made Maria Isabel decide to leave Jasmín?
What does the author claim is the most important reason that some families in Honduras are able to survive economically?
9. CHAPTER EIGHT: A MOTHER’S EMBRACE
Recap the Chapter for your group.
Maria Isabel leaves her daughter and travels North to the US, using a smuggler. How did she do this?
What happened in 2006 to reunite Belky and her mother?
What is Lourdes’ answer to the talk show host about whether or not migrating has been worth it?
10. EPILOGUE: TWO PROMISES
Recap the book’s Epilogue for your group.
Describe the violence by “gangsters” against Enrique and his friends.
Do you think that this book exposes Enrique and his family to deportation?
Why does violence against immigrants often go unreported?
Why is Enrique arrested?
Why were parents being deported in high numbers from 2008-2013?
What was the author’s dilemma as a journalist?
What was her decision about that and how did she justify it?
What argument do Enrique’s lawyers use in his defense?
What are U visas?
What finally saved Enrique from deportation?
11. AFTERWORD: IMMIGRANT NATION
Recap the book’s afterword for your group.
Approximately how many undocumented children live in the US?
In 1970, what percent of children in US schools were immigrants or children of immigrants?
In 2014 (when this book was published) how many children in US schools were immigrants or children of immigrants?
By 2020, what is the estimate of children in US schools who will be immigrants or children of immigrants?
How much of migrants’ income is typically sent home as remittances?
Why has migration helped to improve internet services in Honduras?
Describe the media campaign in Honduras to prevent parents from leaving.
What are the effects of immigration on migrants?
What are some of the traumas newcomers experience?
What are the effects of immigration on the lands left behind?
Is the US an immigrant nation? Why does the author call US immigration policy “schizophrenic”?