In 2018, D. Esperanza was only 13 years old when he and his younger cousin made the 2,000-mile-long trek from his home country of Honduras to the Texas-Mexico border.
Along their journey, they rode La Bestia — a network of trains that carry migrants through Mexico — hid from cartels, and suffered through mental and physical anguish.
Esperanza was later detained at the border and bused to the Tornillo temporary detention camp for unaccompanied children in far West Texas.
D. Esperanza wrote about his experiences in the book, Detained: A Boy’s Journal of Survival and Resilience. The epistolary is reconstructed and translated from the original Spanish-language journals kept by D. Esperanza while he was in Tornillo.
“We were kids. We didn’t understand what was happening,” said Esperanza in Spanish. “We didn't understand the immigration process (or) the process of getting a lawyer or seeing a judge.”
Gerardo Iván Morales, a teacher who met Esperanza at Tornillo, is the co-author of the book.
Morales said the main message of the story is a message of hope and solidarity.
“We want to call on radical solidarity from people so that we can come together and protect these children,” he said. “While they're in the care and custody of the United States, it needs to be upheld.”
The conversation also features Tony Diaz, founder of the Houston-based cultural organization Nuestra Palabra, who organized a book tour in May across Texas.
A Spanish-language edition of Detained: A Boy’s Journal of Survival and Resilience will be released Aug. 19.
