NEW REVISED VERSION OF ENRIQUE'S JOURNEY PUBLISHED!

                                                          February 11, 2014                  

                                       

ENRIQUE'S JOURNEY NEWS

I’m excited to let you know that a revised and updated version of my book will be published today by Random House! I worked hard to truly re-work the new version with an updated, compelling epilogue about the family, chapter on immigration, never before seen photos of Enrique and his family, as well as a Q & A with me. I have a new website up [www.enriquesjourney.com] with new teaching guides, photos, and even video of Enrique.

The book is coming out at the perfect time, since the recent adoption of Common Core Standards in schools across the U.S. means more students will be assigned non-fiction to read. My book puts a human face on the ongoing debate about immigration reform, and teaches readers and students about the migrants who live next door. Enrique’s story is the story of a million undocumented children living in the U.S. today.

The issue of children coming alone to the U.S. is more pressing than ever as the country faces a surge of unaccompanied children making their way north. Federal authorities expect up to 74,000 such children to be placed in federal custody this year, 10 times the number just three years ago.

I’m attaching the beautiful cover of the revised book, and you can look here for a press release by Random House, and a teaching guide geared to using the book with the Common Core Standards in schools.http://www.enriquesjourney.com/february-2013-2/ 

The book has already been chosen by 66 universities, scores of high schools, and 11 cities as a freshman or common read. With a young adult version published last August, middle schools are now adopting the book, too!

If you know a book club, readers group, English or Social Studies teacher, or anyone else who might be interested, could you forward this email to them or let them know?

Could you tell your children’s teachers about it?

As always, I am forever grateful for your support.

Sonia Nazario
www.enriquesjourney.com

Urging the U.S. to Provide Immigrant Children with Government-funded Attorneys

Here is a great piece that aired on Fusion TV yesterday in which I call on the U.S. to provide government-funded attorneys so that no immigrant child faces going to court alone.

 

http://fusion.net/America_with_Jorge_Ramos/video/children-left-defenseless-immigration-courts-322199

Enrique's Journey a Top Teen Non-Fiction Novel

Exciting news: Kirkus, among the nation’s most prominent book review magazines, just named Enrique’s Journey adapted for young adults one of its top teen non-fiction books. Only three other titles were selected.

https://www.kirkusreviews.com/lists/best-teen-nonfiction-2013/enriques-journey-nazario/

My Take on Immigration in the New York Times

Why do we keep trying the same three approaches when it comes to unlawful migration? In this op-ed, I suggest a better way.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/15/opinion/the-heartache-of-an-immigrant-family.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&_r=0

Teaching Guide Geared To New Common Core Teaching Standards Issued for Young Adult Version of Enrique's Journey

Random House has issued this wonderful teaching guide, with discussion questions and activities, geared to helping teachers use Enrique's Journey in conjunction with the nation's new Common Core Standards for teaching. The book, completely revised to be used in the seventh grade on up in middle school and with reluctant readers in high school, was published Aug. 27, 2013. It will be issued in Spanish next year.

UN Chronicle Piece on Migration

In June I addressed the United Nations and spoke about the shift that is needed in our approach toward migration issues. The UN Chronicle has just published a piece I wrote that explains what these issues are and how they affect migrants coming to the U.S.

You can read the piece on my website at http://enriquesjourney.com/RecentAuthorandNovelNews.htm

The UN will meet October 3 & 4 in a high level meeting to discuss how to better address global migration.  

Please help spread the word: Enrique's Journey for Young Adults will be published next Tuesday.

ENRIQUE’S  JOURNEY

The True Story Of A Boy Determined To Reunite With His Mother

(Adapted For Young People)

By

Pulitzer Prize-Winning Journalist

Sonia Nazario

I’m excited that something I spent a lot of time working on--the Young Adult version of Enrique’s Journey--will be published next week and it has already received terrific reviews.

Kirkus gave the book its prestigious starred review and said, “… [It] provides a human face, both beautiful and scarred, for the undocumented—a must-read.”

Booklist said “… Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Nazario offers young readers a compelling account of a modern-day immigration odyssey…. This powerfully written survival story personalizes the complicated, pervasive, and heart-wrenching debates about immigration and immigrants’ rights and will certainly spark discussion in the classroom and at home.”

The School Library Journal said, “…Nazario offers a compelling account of a young man’s brave efforts to find the parent he had not seen in 10 years, and that reunion’s complex, unforeseen consequences. The journey tells the larger story of undocumented Latin American migrants in the United States…. Exploring important issues of immigration on both a personal and global scale, this title would be a valuable addition to young adult collections.

The previous edition has really inspired discussion and helped change conversations about immigration. I am hoping this book will do the same for middle schoolers and Reluctant Readers in high schools.

If you know any middle school, high school, or other educators who might be interested, please pass this press release and your recommendation along to them.

Enrique's Journey for young adults reviewed on Kirkus!

Enrique’s Journey for young people, to be released next month, has received a coveted starred review from Kirkus Reviews! The review says my narrative “Provides a human face, both beautiful and scarred, for the undocumented—a must-read.” Readers, it says, will not want to miss the updated Epilogue, which “allows readers who are moved by Enrique to follow the family’s tragedies and triumphs since the book’s original publication; the journey does not end upon reaching the United States.” The new edition is for middle schoolers and reluctant readers.

https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/sonia-nazario/enriques-journey-nazario/

Kids In Need of Defense

On April 30th, I visited New York City to speak at the Gala Dinner at Jazz at Lincoln Center for Kids In Need of Defense, a non-profit that works to find pro-bono attorneys to represent unaccompanied immigrant children. So far, they have recruited more than 5,000 attorneys nationwide. The entire board of KIND, myself included, helped ring the closing bell at the NASDAQ at 4:00 pm that afternoon in Times Square. Here are some of my favorite photos from that visit.

Victoria Kennedy introducing me as keynote speaker for the KIND gala.

Here I am ringing the NASDAQ closing bell with KIND.

Keynote Speaker at Harvard University's "Crossing Borders: Immigration and Gender in the Americas" Symposium

I recently had the privilege of speaking at Harvard University's Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study for a conference about immigration, focusing specifically on female migrants.

I wanted to share an article about my speech from the Harvard Gazette.

The Price of Women's Migration

New York Times Op-ed on Immigrant Children in need of Legal Defense

I wanted to share broadly an opinion piece that will run in tomorrow's New York Times. It's an issue I feel passionately about and one I believe this country needs to address. 

I also wanted to share a bit of good news: Enrique's Journey, adapted for younger readers, will be out this August for junior high school students. If you know any teachers who might be interested in a preview copy, please let me know! 

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/11/opinion/give-lawyers-to-immigrant-children.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

I did an interview today with NPR's Talk of the Nation about the use of Enrique's Journey for common reads on college campuses. We talked about, among other things, how universities are willing to teach about controversial issues like immigration.
Here is the link:
http://www.npr.org/2012/08/13/158694013/college-freshmen-learn-from-enriques-journey

Please vote!

My book, Enrique's Journey, has been nominated as one of three finalists for Denver's One Book One Denver program. 

I have seen, in many trips to Colorado, the real need for greater discussion about immigrants. If you agree a more robust, nuanced, and open discussion about immigrants would be a good thing, please take 30 seconds to vote to make Enrique's Journey the City of Denver's Book for 2012.

Voting ends June 22, 2012.

Please take a moment now to help make this happen! Ask your friends on Facebook and elsewhere to vote.

Here's the link:

http://www.denverartsinteractive.org/text/1248/entries

Thank you for your support!

Sonia Nazario

NPR Story about migrants riding freight trains through Mexico.

http://www.npr.org/2011/07/06/137528534/atop-a-train-migrants-begin-dangerous-trek-to-u-s

Latino USA Interview on Increasing Number of Unaccompanied Immigrant Children

Recently, I spoke with NPR’s Maria Hinojosa to discuss the growing number of minors crossing the U.S-Mexico border without a parent, and illegally. In the past six months, there has been a 93% increase over the same period a year ago of these youths entering the U.S. Listen to us discuss why this influx of young, unaccompanied, immigrants may be happening.

http://www.futuromediagroup.org/lusa/2012/05/25/minor-crossers/

Increase in Unaccompanied Children Entering the U.S.

In each of the past three years, the U.S. government has apprehended and detained about 8,000 unaccompanied children entering the this country . In the first quarter of 2012, the government saw a 77% jump in those apprehensions. The government has detained and sheltered more than 4,000 children since October.

Some believe children are fleeing increased gang recruitment in their home countries in Mexico and in Central America. Others say that because of increased border enforcement adults who are in this country without permission cannot easily go back and visit their children, so they are choosing to bring those children north.

Here are a couple of articles that talk about the increase in children coming to the U.S..

--Sonia Nazario

Detained immigrant children moving to air base

Updated 02:33 p.m., Tuesday, April 17, 2012

SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Federal officials are making an Air Force base near San Antonio the temporary home of 100 unescorted children stopped by the U.S. Border Patrol because a network of contracted shelters is overwhelmed with more kids than it can accommodate.

The first of the children arrived at Lackland Air Force Base on Monday, the San Antonio Express-News (http://bit.ly/J7LGNk) reported. The children, apprehended at different times and locations, are under the charge of the Unaccompanied Children's Services division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Lackland spokesman Brent Boller tells the newspaper that the base is "simply providing the temporary housing" in an unused 1,000-student dorm with showers and a dining hall.

HHS has taken in 7,000 to 8,000 illegal immigrant children in each of the past three years, but sheltered more than 4,000 since October. It has seen a 77 percent jump in the number of children in the first quarter of 2012.

"All anyone can do is speculate about what's going on," Lavinia Limon, president of the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, told the Express-News.

The children have been distributed among 10 states, where they receive government-provided housing, health care and psychiatric treatment. Nearly 9 of every 10 immigrant children are reunited with their families.

Unaccompanied children are not housed in immigrant detention centers, Linda Brandmiller, immigration services director for Catholic Charities in San Antonio.

Two-thirds of the children are from Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras, while 12 percent are from Mexico. About 80 percent are boys, with 83 percent being older than 14.

Half of the children crossing the border are caught by the Border Patrol, Limon said. Most of those contacting her organization for help say they fled forced recruitment into gangs or prostitution, she said.

"The children are recruited quite early and it is very difficult for them to resist, and so the ones who don't want to be part of those kinds of activities take off," she said.

Organizations that receive government grants to care for the children at their own shelters will also oversee their care at Lackland, according to a statement from HHS.

"HHS appreciates the collaboration, cooperation and assistance of (the Department of Defense), (Department of Homeland Security) and state and local officials," the statement said.

Cristina Costantini

Cristina.Costantini@huffingtonpost.com

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Spike In Undocumented Immigrant Children Prompts Use Of Military 

Base As Shelter

Posted: 04/18/2012 7:41 am Updated: 04/18/2012 4:05 pm

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      The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) 
and the Air Force turned a San Antonio Air Force base 
into temporary shelter for 100 undocumented children Monday, 
after being overwhelmed by unusually high rates of underage 
border-crossers, according to a report by theSan Antonio Express-News.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

      Although the number of migrants attempting to cross the border
illegally has plummeted in the past five years, the number of
children entering the country illegally without guardians has steadily
risen in recent years and months, according to the Unaccompanied
Children’s Services division of HHS. This spike has prompted temporary
fixes like the base shelter, and has strained already-limited resources
for the federal agencies and legal advocates who represent undocumented
children.

    Nationally, immigration remains a heated topic. On Sunday,
GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney called for a Dream Act-style bill
to allow some undocumented immigrants who entered the United States
as children to become citizens, though he pledged in January to veto
the current Dream Act—a measure supported by 91 percent of Latinos.

    In the past three years, HHS estimates that it has taken in around
8,000 such children. But since October, the agency has housed more
than 4,000, a 77 percent hike from the first quarter of last year,
according to a report by The Associated Press. According to HHS,
the agency currently has more than 2,100 undocumented children
in their custody.

     Though the recent rise in undocumented children is as of yet
unaccounted for, advocates at Kids In Need of Defense (KIND),
an organization which provides pro-bono legal representation to
unaccompanied minors, told The Huffington Post that many children
who come to the United States alone do so to escape domestic
abuse, political turmoil and human trafficking.

     “Kids don’t just travel across international borders unless there
is something wrong with their life,” Wendy Young, the president
of KIND, told The Huffington Post.

     Two-thirds of the minors that started trickling into San Antonio’s
Lackland Air Force Base on Monday are from Guatemala, El Salvador
and Honduras, while 12 percent are from Mexico. About 80 percent
of the minors are male, and 83 percent are older than 14, according
to an AP report—though the Women’s Refugee Commission has 
found that 14 is the average age of an unaccompanied child in 
immigration custody.

     The San Antonio Express-News reported that the 100 children will
stay in an empty 1,000-student dorm, equipped with showers and
a dining hall, until the government figures out what to do with each
of them. According to the AP, HHS will eventually distribute the
100 children among 13 states, where they will “receive government-
provided housing, health care and psychiatric treatment” and await
trial.

     An unaccompanied minor in HHS custody faces a hearing in which
an immigration judge decides if he or she will be sent back home,
reunited with a legal guardian in the United States or granted
asylum. Nine out of 10 are reunited with a family member,
the AP reports.

     Yet, under current U.S. law, unaccompanied children are not guaranteed
lawyers in deportation and asylum cases. While pro-bono lawyers have
done their best to fill this void, in 2011, nearly half of all such children
went in front of a judge without any form of representation, according
to Elaine Komis, a spokesperson for the Executive Office for
Immigration Review in the Department of Justice.

     According to Young, the president of KIND, a child with representation
is three times more likely to be granted asylum than a child without.

     Jennifer Podkul, who has represented nearly 200 unaccompanied
minors in her five years serving a pro-bono lawyer, told The Huffington
Post that she and her colleagues are overwhelmed.

     "We can’t move quickly enough from one case to the next,” she said.
“We just can’t keep up.”

     Judge Bruce Einhorn, a retired U.S. immigration judge who oversaw
children’s immigration cases for nearly two decades, told The Huffington
Post that without lawyers, minors are often left without any
representation at all, unable to adequately argue their own case.

     “It’s like dealing with someone in a boat in the middle of a lake with
no guide and no oars,” Einhorn said. “It’s much easier for a child to
have someone in the boat with them rowing.”