unaccompanied immigrant children

Ernesto and Ra?l Flores are identical twins, used to being mistaken for each other. As seventeen-year-olds living in rural El Salvador, they are used to thinking that the United States is just a far-off dream. When Ernesto ends up on the wrong side of MS-13, one of El Salvador's brutal gangs, he flees the country for his own safety. Ra?l, fearing that he will be mistaken for his brother, follows close behind. Running from one danger to the next, the Flores twins make the harrowing journey north, only to fall into the hands of immigration authorities. When they finally make it to the custody of their older brother in Oakland, California, the difficulties don't end. While navigating a new school in a new language, struggling to pay off their mounting coyote debt, and anxiously waiting for their day in immigration court, Ra?l and Ernesto are also trying to lead normal teenage lives. With only each other for support, they begin the process of carving out a life for themselves, one full of hope and possibility.

Identical twins Ernesto and Ra?l Flores flee from El Salvador when Ernesto makes an enemy of the MS-13 gang and Ra?l fears being mistaken for his brother. They set out through many hardships to reach America, but they fall into the hands of immigration authorities and face more trouble before they make it to Oakland, California, where their older brother lives. Difficulties follow them as the "coyote" who helped them get across the border demands his money--on top of all this, the twins just try to live as normal teens.

"In today's uncertain world, many families are leaving their home countries and seeking a better life in the United States. 'Immigrants from Mexico and Central America' explores the stories of two boys who left their home countries to find a better life in the United States. Follow their journeys to find out why they left their homelands and understand the challenges they faced in moving to a new country"--Provided by the publisher.

"Identical twins Ernesto and Raul Flores, seventeen, must flee El Salvador, make a . . . journey across the Rio Grande and the Texas desert, face capture by immigration authorities, and struggle to navigate life in America"--Provided by publisher.

"Identical twins Ernesto and Raul Flores, seventeen, must flee El Salvador, make a . . . journey across the Rio Grande and the Texas desert, face capture by immigration authorities, and struggle to navigate life in America"--Provided by publisher.

"Identical twins Ernesto and Raul Flores, seventeen, must flee El Salvador, make a . . . journey across the Rio Grande and the Texas desert, face capture by immigration authorities, and struggle to navigate life in America"--Provided by publisher.

They are a mass migration of thousands, yet each one travels alone. This book is a collection of oral histories that tells--in their own words--the story of young refugees fleeing countries in Central America and traveling for hundreds of miles to seek safety and protection in the United States.

"Growing up in rural El Salvador in the wake of the civil war, Ernesto Flores had always had a fascination with the United States, the faraway land of skyscrapers and Nikes, while his identical twin, Raul, never felt that northbound tug. But when Ernesto ends up on the wrong side of the region's brutal gangs he is forced to flee the country, and Raul, because he looks just like his brother, follows close behind--away from one danger and toward the great American unknown. In this urgent chronicle of contemporary immigration, journalist Lauren Markham follows the seventeen-year-old Flores twins as they make their harrowing journey across the Rio Grande and the Texas desert, into the hands of immigration authorities, and from there to their estranged older brother's custody in Oakland, CA. Soon these unaccompanied minors are navigating a new school in a new language, working to pay down their mounting coyote debt, and facing their day in immigration court, while also encountering the triumphs and pitfalls of life as American teenagers--girls, grades, Facebook--with only each other for support "--Provided by publisher.