My Boy Will Die of Sorrow: A Memoir of Immigration From the Front Lines

by Efrén C. Olivares

Overview

INTERNATIONAL LATINO BOOK AWARD WINNER - The Raul Yzaguirre Best Political/Current Affairs Book

This deeply personal perspective from a human rights lawyer—whose work on the front lines of the fight against family separations in South Texas intertwines with his own story of immigrating to the United States at thirteen—reframes the United States' history as a nation of immigrants but also a nation against immigrants.

In the summer of 2018, Efrén C. Olivares found himself representing hundreds of immigrant families when Zero Tolerance separated thousands of children from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border. Twenty-five years earlier, he had been separated from his own father for several years when he migrated to the U.S. to work. Their family was eventually reunited in Texas, where Efrén and his brother went to high school and learned a new language and culture. 

By sharing these gripping family separation stories alongside his own, Olivares gives voice to immigrants who have been punished and silenced for seeking safety and opportunity. Through him we meet Mario and his daughter Oralia, Viviana and her son Sandro, Patricia and her son Alessandro, and many others. We see how the principles that ostensibly bind the U.S. together fall apart at its borders.

My Boy Will Die of Sorrow reflects on the immigrant experience then and now, on what separations do to families, and how the act of separation itself adds another layer to the immigrant identity. Our concern for fellow human beings who live at the margins of our society—at the border, literally and figuratively—is shaped by how we view ourselves in relation both to our fellow citizens and to immigrants. He discusses not only law and immigration policy in accessible terms, but also makes the case for how this hostility is nothing new: children were put in cages when coming through Ellis Island, and Japanese Americans were forcibly separated from their families and interned during WWII. By examining his personal story and the stories of the families he represents side by side, Olivares meaningfully engages readers with their assumptions about what nationhood means in America and challenges us to question our own empathy and compassion.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780306847271
Publisher:	Hachette Books
Publication date:	07/12/2022
Sold by:	Hachette Digital, Inc.
Format:	eBook
Sales rank:	1,068,774
File size:	6 MB

About the Author

Efrén C. Olivares is the Deputy Legal Director of the Immigrant Justice Project at Southern Poverty Law Center. He was the lead lawyer in a successful landmark petition to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights on behalf of families separated under the Zero Tolerance policy. He previously directed the Racial and Economic Justice Program at the Texas Civil Rights Project. His writings on immigration policy have also been published by the New York Times, USA Today, and Newsweek, and he has testified before Congress and at briefings on Capitol Hill about immigration and border policies. Part of his work representing separated families was featured in the CBS News Documentary The Faces of Family Separation, released in October 2019. He has also been interviewed as an expert attorney on immigrants’ rights issues on numerous TV and radio shows, and was featured in John Legend’s “Can’t Just Preach” series.
 
Olivares was the first member of his family to attend college. He is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and Yale Law School.

Table of Contents

Prologue xi

Chapter 1 Zero Tolerance (May 24, 2018) 1

Chapter 2 Fridays (1993) 21

Chapter 3 No Limits (May 29, 2018) 39

Chapter 4 Interdiction (1978) 55

Chapter 5 Father's Day (June 17, 2018) 71

Chapter 6 Family Petition (1994-1996) 100

Chapter 7 Have We an Orchestra Here? (June 18, 2018) 111

Chapter 8 At Night 133

Chapter 9 They Will Go See Her Tonight (June 21, 2018) 136

Chapter 10 Together Again (1996) 156

Chapter 11 Dime que no es tu hija (July 9, 2018) 174

Chapter 12 The Pot and the Frog (1999-2001) 208

Chapter 13 Pro Bono (July 2018) 225

Chapter 14 I Don't Want Your Parents to Call Me (2001-2002) 248

Chapter 15 At the Margins (July-August, 2018) 263

Chapter 16 Órale mijito (2006) 280

Author's Note 295

Appendix: How to Help 297

Acknowledgments 301

Editorial Reviews

04/18/2022

In this powerful debut, human rights lawyer Olivares braids reflections on growing up as a Mexican immigrant with a stirring account of his experience representing immigrant parents separated from their children as a result of the Trump administration’s “zero-tolerance” policy in 2018. In the 1990s, Olivares was separated from his father for four years, when his father migrated to the U.S. But as he points out, his family’s “ ‘privilege’ of choosing to be apart” while his father sought a better life for them in Texas was a starkly different situation from that of the hundreds of immigrant families he fought for in McAllen, Tex., who had their separations forced upon them by the Border Patrol. Bringing their testimonies to the fore alongside searing analyses of America’s immigration policies, Olivares recounts case after case of brutality and desperation, underscoring how “notions of due process, justice, equality before the law, all fall apart at the border.” “This problem that has happened,” said one woman who’d spent weeks apart from her family, “can never be erased.” As Olivares contemplates his own assimilation into American society, he builds an affecting case against the U.S.’s treatment of those with “deeper skins... darker hair,” while humanizing their stories in a brilliant light. This urgent look at an ongoing crisis galvanizes and informs in equal measure. (July)

Publishers Weekly

"My Boy Will Die of Sorrow is a visceral, behind the scenes account of the human impacts of our immigration system, from the inner machinations at the height of the family separation crisis to the cruelties faced by immigrants and their families every single day. At a time where harrowing immigration headlines dominate our news, this book is an intimate invitation to join Olivares through his firsthand experience as an immigrant and an advocate on the frontlines. It's an invitation every American should be honored to receive, and those who accompany him on this journey will undoubtedly walk away better for it."

—Kerry Kennedy, President of Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights

“A riveting account of the immigrant’s experience under Zero Tolerance and an inspiring story of the author’s journey from humble beginnings in Mexico to Yale Law to human rights lawyer, My Boy Will Die of Sorrow is probing, necessary, and enlightening. An essential work from an important voice in the national conversation on immigration and human rights.”

—José Antonio Rodríguez, PhD, author of House Built on Ashes

“Everyone should understand the horrors of family separation as told by the man who stood against a wave of crushing atrocities at a defining moment in American history… a heart wrenching account of suffering, loss, and hope.” —Laura Peña, Director of Racial and Economic Justice, the Texas Civil Rights Project

“A captivating, intimate portrayal of one of the human rights crises of our time. My Boy Will Die of Sorrow brings to life the human plight of the men, women and children who make the dangerous journey across borders, which often gets lost in the debates around immigration policies, and tells the moving stories of families caught in what is perhaps the most militarized border of the continent… I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a fresh perspective that goes deep behind the headlines of immigration, borders, and family separation.”—Felipe González Morales, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants

"Efrén Olivares’ My Son Will Die of Sorrow wakes readers from political overwhelm through his warmth and humanity, even as he discusses the deeply tragic events surrounding the Trump administration’s Zero Tolerance policy that separated children from their parents at the U.S. border... the book engenders feelings of hope and galvanized action."—Latino Book Review

“A powerful mix of human rights memoir and examination of America’s flawed immigration policies…[Olivares’s] account includes interviews with immigrants alongside analyses of complicated legal processes and a history of the southern border….A harrowing firsthand account of inhumane immigration policies with which we all must come to terms.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred)

“Part memoir, part exploration of the racism inherent in U.S. immigration policy, and part tribute to the families who have suffered at the hands of the U.S. government, My Boy Will Die of Sorrow is a thought-provoking look at the soul of the United States.”
 —Booklist

"an informative and gut-wrenching indictment of the state of the U.S. immigration policy. This vital resource and collection of testimonies can serve to keep the recent horrors it depicts from disappearing into the past."—Shelf Awareness

From the Publisher

05/01/2022

Olivares, a human rights lawyer and immigration policy expert for the Texas Civil Rights Project, has penned a heartfelt first-person exposé of America's broken immigration system. During the Trump presidency. Olivares aided undocumented immigrants facing federal charges for crossing the Mexican border. He fought to reunite thousands of children separated from their parents at the border and held in often traumatizing conditions at US detention facilities. Olivares alternates between his own story—a Mexican American immigrant and first-generation college student who endured childhood separation from his own father—and the heartbreaking stories of his clients. Especially moving is the story of a father forced to take a DNA test to prove that his little daughter was truly his. The author's compassion is clear, though autobiographical elements can dampen these stories' moral urgency, and the two halves of his narrative do not always cohere. For complementary depth and context, see Separated by Jacob Soboroff and Taking Children by Laura Briggs. VERDICT Readers will appreciate this memoir as a moving firsthand account but also as a call to action to ensure that human rights prevail at America's borders.—Michael Rodriguez

Library Journal

★ 2022-03-19
A powerful mix of human rights memoir and examination of America’s flawed immigration policies.

In summer 2018, the Trump administration instituted a heavily restrictive zero tolerance policy that resulted in the separation of thousands of children from their parents, regardless of their rights as asylum seekers. For Olivares, deputy legal director for the Southern Poverty Law Center Immigrant Justice Project and an immigrant from Mexico, this story struck home—literally. The author lives in the Rio Grande Valley, an area saturated with Mexican culture, where the realities of immigration have never been far away. A mixture of poignant legal insight, vivid hometown familiarity, and personal struggle, his account includes interviews with immigrants alongside analyses of complicated legal processes and a history of the southern border. Zero tolerance, Olivares reminds us, is only part of a broader history. While widespread family detention began under Barack Obama, the author traces its origins further back, to racially discriminatory immigration policies as old as the nation itself. As we follow Olivares through his many visits to the U.S. District Court in McAllen, Texas, and conversations with migrant parents, we see the countless shameful obstacles put in their way. In touching and often heartbreaking sections, the author introduces us to a Guatemalan man of Mayan descent who was separated from his daughter and accused of human trafficking for not speaking Spanish well enough; a father who, with instinctive foresight, told his daughter to prepare to be taken away to a "summer camp"; officials from private prison companies MTC and GEO Group, both of which have reaped huge profits from the drama and suffering of migrants; and government officials who mock the cries of separated children, some despite being children of immigrants themselves. Regarding one agent, Olivares writes, “Did he not see himself, or his family, his ancestors who came to this country before he did, in the faces and the cries of these children?”

A harrowing firsthand account of inhumane immigration policies with which we all must come to terms.

Kirkus Reviews