To Die Trying: The Worst Immigrants' Tragedy In The History Of The United States
(Jorge Ramos)
Each day, hundreds of people take incalculable risks to cross the border between Mexico and the United States in search of work and better life opportunities. But for a group of immigrants who crossed the border illegally and climbed into a trailer the night of May 13, 2003, this dream turned into tragedy.
On that humid and hot spring night, at least 73 people boarded the back of a truck which was to take them from Harlingen, Texas to Houston, 300 miles away. But the truck never reached its final destination. Four hours into the trip, it had to make a stop near the city of Victoria, where the doors to the trailer were opened to find that 17 people had died of asphyxia, dehydration, and an unbearable heat. Two more would later die at a hospital. Among the dead, a 5 year old boy.
By the time the police arrived several of the survivors had fled. The terror, disconcert and sheer fear had made them disappear before anyone could have a chance to ask them a single question. Later, most of the survivors were taken into custody. But the investigations that followed soon revealed that a woman stood at the center of this horrible tragedy: Karla Chávez, a 25 year old Honduran charged by the authorities with organizing the entire operation.With the passion and thoroughness which characterize him Jorge Ramos gives us an account of the details of this heart-wrenching tragedy, while at the same time he tries to understand how something so inhumane can happen right in the XXI century. Based on interviews with four survivors who had the courage to talk about their experience, conversations with relatives of the deceased, and an extensive analysis of the trial of Karla Chávez, and of the implications of the incident on US immigration policies, Jorge Ramos recounts one of the saddest episodes of this country''s recent modern history.
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