American Dirt

Luca Delgado, 8, and his family are celebrating his cousin quinceañera at his grandmother’s house in Acapulco, Mexico when assassins come looking for his father, Sebastián Pérez Delgado. Sebastian is a reporter who had been writing about cartels. Luca and his mother Lydia Quixano hide in the shower until they leave. Outside, the other sixteen members of their family, including Sebastian, are dead when the police arrive.

Lydia knows that only Javier Crespo Fuentes who would do something like this, and she recognizes that his people will come after her when they realize she survived. She packs a bag, grabs all the cash available and tells Luca that they need to leave. In order to prevent being tracked, they take a bus to leave town and stay at a hotel, paying in cash. However, as they settle in, the hotel clerk texts someone to let them know that “two special guests” have checked in.

Lydia first met Javier as a customer in her bookstore who she hit it off with. He would come visit occasionally and flirt with her, though they were both married, though it eventually grew into more of a platonic, but intimate friendship. Like her, his father died of cancer as well. During this time, there are warring cartels in Acapulco. Los Jardineros were the new challengers, and their boss is known as La Lechuza. Lydia eventually realizes La Lechuza is Javier. Lydia confides in Sebastian about her friendship with Javier, and also tells Javier that she knows who he is. She sadly tells Javier that she finds his role as a cartel boss irreconcilable.

In present day, Lydia receives a parcel at the hotel. Inside is a book, with a note from Javier. She knows they need to leave, since it means someone knows they’re there. Lydia and Luca depart, but they see three black SUVs following them. Luca has a perfect sense of direction, and directs them to the bus depot. As they ride toward Mexico City, Lydia hopes there will be no roadblocks, since they may be dangerous if they are controlled by gangs (including police and soldiers who are part of these gangs).

They get off the bus in Chilpancingo, where a friend of Sebastian lives and track him down via Facebook. They find Carlos while he is attending Church. Lydia tells Carlos what happened. Carlos asks his wife, Meredith, to take them into the United States along with a group of visiting missionaries, but she is reluctant.

Lydia and Luca are put on the third missionary bus back to the United States. They are stopped at a roadblock, and some boys carrying AR-15s check the vans. Carlos tells them that Lydia is a church counselor and pays the required bribes without incident. Upon reaching Mexico City, Lydia next wants to fly to a city near the northern border. However, she needs Luca’s birth certificate for him to fly, which Lydia does not have.

Lydia considers the options. La Bestia is a freight train system used by migrants that is fraught with danger. There are no tickets for this train, since it is technically for cargo. There are fences up to prevent it being boarded when stopped, so it has to be boarded in motion. The alternative of relying on coyotes is risky as well. The last option is walking to the border, a lengthy and arduous journey.

They choose to walk for now, arriving eventually in Huehuetoca at a migrant shelter for rest. Padre Rey, his helper Nestor, and Sister Cecilia run the facility. Lydia and Luca are fed and given a place to sleep. The next morning, the other migrants gossip about a man who was kicked out of the shelter for raping a woman there, with one saying that being assaulted is the price of going north.

Lydia’s plan is to keep heading north until the border, to find a coyote to cross the border and then take a bus to Denver, where she has family. They come across two migrant girls, Soledad and Rebeca (15 and 14), who show them how to board La Bestia via overpasses which is still dangerous but less so than the alternative. It works.

Lydia recalls her and Sebastian’s discussions before the article came out. She had even considered telling Javier beforehand, but Sebastian was worried Javier would see it as him volunteering to act as a PR guy. After, the article was published, Lydia felt it was fair and was hopeful Javier would be okay with it. About a week later, the shooting happened.

Present day, they ride La Bestia, but the girls recommend not riding at night. Instead, they all get off at San Miguel de Allende. The girls help them to find food, and they all sleep outside for the night. The next day, it’s back to the tracks. The girls recommend they walk an hour to board the Pacific Route since the others are all controlled by cartels.

The girls explain that they left Honduras when a gang leader (palabrero) took a liking to Soledad, despite her disinterest. She was raped and now is pregnant. When he started asking about her sister Rebeca as well, Soledad knew they needed to leave. They left without informing anyone. They have a cousin, Cesar, in Maryland who has agreed to take them in, and Cesar has paid a coyote $4,000 for each girl to meet them at the border and take them across.

They arrive at a migrant shelter in Celaya, where a priest warns everyone to turn back if at all possible. He says the road to the north will only get more dangerous from here on out. Still, the next day they re-board La Bestia. Luca spots the man who got kicked out for assaulting the girl at the first shelter they were at. He furthermore spots the man’s tattoo, identifying him as one of the Los Jardineros.

Lydia confronts the man, who knows exactly who she is. He says his name is Lorenzo, and that the word was to bring her in. But he’s left the cartel life behind and is fleeing to America. (As they roll through Guadalajara, they are advised to get off since police will inspect the trains at the next stop. They disembark.) Lorenzo informs her that after the article was published, Javier’s daughter Marta killed herself after finding out the truth about her father.

Outside Guadalajara, they arrive at another shelter. There, the two girls decide to call their father. However, the woman who picks up informs them that their father was stabbed, in the stomach and in the face, and is at the hospital. A woman the the hospital, Angela, confirms it.

Still unsure of Lorenzo, they leave early to get away from him. The next leg of their journey will take them into Sinalo, known for cartel activity and disappearing girls. They board La Bestia, but suddenly immigration officials (“la migra”) arrive and they need to run. They try, but are rounded up eventually and taken to a warehouse in Novalato. Soledad and Rebeca are raped.

As Mexican nationals, Lydia and Luca are free to go (with payment), but Luca demands that they save Soledad and Rebeca. They give up the rest of their money that was hidden away to save them. They come across a doctor who wants to help them. Cautiously (they check his ID and he shows pictures of his family), they go with him. He gives them a ride to a motel. That night, Soledad has a miscarriage.

The next morning, the doctor buys them food, sunscreen and sanitary napkins and then drives them to the nearby town of Culiacan. There is no fence guarding La Bestia there, and they are able to board safely with it stopped. But the train stops three hours later and is idled. They wait for three days for the right train to depart again. They meet some migrants, two older men, who are familiar with the route because they’ve done it eight times in search of work. Three hundred miles from Nogales, where they are to meet the coyote, immigration agents show up again. This time they are able to get away. A local woman allows them to hide in her shed while the agents they search the neighborhood.

Back on La Bestia, they start to see trains full of migrant traveling south. They also meet a young asthmatic boy, 10, named Beto. Beto grew up near the landfills in Tijuana and is traveling alone. Beto explains that the southbound travelers are people who were deported from the United States, some after living there for many years. He also explains that it used to be easy to cross the border near Tijuana, but now that area is heavily guarded.

Before long, they arrive at their destination, Nogales. The sisters make contact with the coyote, El Chacal, to make arrangements to meet. The sisters have already paid him, but Lydia needs to find a way to withdraw money from her mother’s bank account to pay. The man charges $5,000 for her and $6,000 for Luca, so $11,000 total. Lydia doesn’t have the required paperwork, but throws herself at the mercy of the clerk, Paola who has heard of her story on the news. Paola gives her all the money in her mother’s account and throws in 500 pesos of her own cash. Beto also pays the $6,000 to cross, and covers the few hundred dollars extra because Lydia is short.

El Chacal has them stay at an apartment until departure. Other than the five of them, there are three additional migrants. Two men and a woman. The woman, Marisol, was deported from California and is trying to go back. She had let her visa lapse after the death of her husband, but stayed illegally because of her 15-year-old daughter, a citizen. Lydia, Luca and Marisol go out to find food, but Lydia turn back when she sees some graffiti tagged by Los Jardineros.

Back at the apartment, Lydia discovers that Lorenzo is also traveling with them. Later, five more join them as well. Marisol and another deportee Nicolas talk about ICE. Marisol says that ICE has known about her illegal status for years and she has checked in with them periodically as required, but recently they decided to deport her. Instead of using their discretion to deport criminals and gang members, they are deporting people simply for showing up to their check ins. Soledad calls the hospital and learns her father is dead.

When it is time to depart, Beto has not brought a jacket as instructed and El Chacal kicks him out of the group, but Nicolas offers one of his instead. El Chacal then gives a stern warning that everyone needs to heed what he says or they will die. They have a difficult two day hike ahead of them. Immigration agents show up, but El Chacal pays them off. El Chacal also instructs the group that if they get caught, not to identify him as the coyote. Instead, if they get deported, they will all be deported together and can try again. Without much ceremony, they eventually enter the United States.

El Chacal spots some pickup trucks, which turn out to be vigilante border patrol people. They hide until they leave, and then trudge up and down hills in the desert heat, carrying their water and any belongings with them. They make their way to a water station where aid workers try to leave water, but the Border Patrol shows up soon after. They hide until they are gone. By late morning, they finally find a spot to camp, sleep and hide from the sun.

As soon as the sun starts to set again, it’s time to head out again. They have eight miles with up to 7,000 ft in elevation change along the way to traverse today. El Chacal explains that they cannot stop for anyone, so if anyone is unable to continue, they will be left behind. He tells them how to find Ruby Road, which is patrolled regularly, which is where they should go since turning themselves in is better than death.

The hike is grueling but goes smoothly until it starts to rain five hours in. Luca develops a blister, which Lydia tries to bandage, as the others leave Luca and Lydia behind. They begin jogging to try to catch up. Through the darkness (since El Chacal does not allow flashlights), they are somehow able to catch up to the group.

El Chacal got his nickname from a pup he raised as a boy. Later, he started doing the crossing just for fun, but then started helping others cross until he’d turned it into a business. When borders tightened, the journey became more difficult. And then the cartels moved in, eating away at profits. El Chacal wants to retire soon.

One of the migrants, Ricardo, nearly gets carried away in a flash flood. He survives, but his leg is broken. His godfather stays with him, and they plan to head to the Ruby Road, roughly a mile away, to turn themselves in when he’s up to it. The rest of the group makes it to camp, where they sleep in a cave. When Rebeca steps out to go to the bathroom, Lorenzo attacks her, but El Chacal stops him, pointing a gun at him. When El Chacal lowers the gun, Soledad disarms him and shoots Lorenzo.

They break camp in case anyone heard the shot. Before they leave, Lydia finds Lorenzo’s cell phone. She checks it and to her horror, Lorenzo has been reporting back to Javier this whole time. Lydia calls him on the phone, demanding to be left alone and telling him about Lorenzo’s death. Javier claims he never wanted to hurt her, but Lydia doesn’t listen and tosses the cell phone away.

In the final leg of their journey, Beto is struggling due to his asthma, until he finally is unable to breathe. Despite their efforts, Beto dies. Later that day, the migrants finally arrive at camp, where two men with two RVs are waiting for them. They need to wait until Border Patrol leaves to depart. At 5:15 PM, it’s finally time. They hide in the RV’s benches, and the drivers begin to drive.

About a month later, Lydia now has a job cleaning houses. She and Luca live with Soledad and Rebeca at their cousin Cesar’s place. The girls are enrolled in school. Lydia’s teacher suggests signing Luca up for a geography bee, but later informs her he’s not eligible to win because he’s undocumented. Sympathetically, the teacher suggests that she contact an immigration attorney.