The Far Away Brothers: Two Young Migrants and the Making of an American Life

In El Salvador, politicians claim that most killed by gang violence are gangsters, but others disagree. While examining a body, Dr. Fortin Magana says, “These were young women, innocent young people who would have been absolutely valuable to this society. And they killed them” (156). In 2012, El Salvador led the world in femicide. Girls are increasingly joining gangs, “wrestling a tiny hunk of power from the male-dominated world—of gangs, of police, of the trials and tribulations of their own families” (157). Gang members claim neighborhood girls, physically threatening them and their families for noncompliance. Many women unintentionally support gangs by washing members’ clothes, cooking their food, and keeping house. Young women, more so than young men, have few options in El Salvador. Girls are going north with increasing frequency, taking birth control shots before they leave so they won’t become pregnant when they are raped along the journey. A Rio Grande, Texas paralegal explains, “It’s just considered part of the payment […] of the passage north” (159).

After Ernesto confides in Raúl, he tells Markham and Wilber. Telling his secret makes it worse. Markham explains, “To tell what had happened was to reify it, to give it shape and weight outside his memory” (160). Ernesto drinks with increasing frequency. He is caught drinking at school and suspended. Alcohol makes Ernesto “feel like a bubble, iridescent and weightless” (160), but the feeling is unsustainable.

The twins’ debt is now $19,000. They obtain jobs moving boxes and earn about $640 per month. They pledge to save the money and send it to El Salvador, but don’t save any. Ernesto finds a second job deep-cleaning a restaurant, but after the second month they send only $150—not enough to cover that month’s interest. Unaccompanied minors arrive in the United States with increasing frequency, most fleeing gang violence. President Obama declares it “an urgent humanitarian situation” and secures billions of dollars in federal funding to address the crisis. Ernesto and Raúl watch news coverage and “[t]he more they watched and heard, the more scared the twins felt for their family. The same things that were pushing out all these people were bearing down on them, too” (172).

In La Colonia, Maricela and Cesar are having a baby. Cesar believed he was sterile, but is elated. Maricela’s parents react with worry and disappointment. Ricardo reacts violently, calling her “a fucking idiot, a damned whore” (173), and telling her “she better get the fuck out of the house” (173). He says if she doesn’t leave, he will join a gang. She finds employment as a live-in maid, but cannot bring Lupita. She works until a month before her due date, then returns home hoping Ricardo has calmed. After giving birth to her second child, Maria Elena, she opts to be sterilized.

In September, Raúl and Ernesto receive notice that the judge’s order has been approved by immigration and they will receive green cards. They agree not to drink as much, to improve their grades, and to pay their debt.

By 2015 the majority of deportations to El Salvador are from Mexico rather than the United States. The United States encourages and funds this Mexican crackdown. Almost every deported minor tries repeatedly. The crackdown does not deter migration—people just change routes.

Ernesto and Raúl now work five nights per week. Together, they earn several hundred dollars per week. Rosalinda’s new boyfriend moves into the apartment and two of his friends rent the fourth room. There are three more adults living in the cramped apartment. The men drink late and crank loud music. Tensions quickly rise between the twins and the men, but Rosalinda likes having people her own age around. The twins again exile themselves to their room, “a homemade fortress” (188). Wilber doesn’t like the men either and raises his discontent to Rosalinda, but she shuts him down and Gabby backs her mother. The situation becomes untenable when the men leave chicken bones on the carpet and Gabby’s Chihuahua Nicky consumes them. She becomes sick and quickly dies because the bones rip her stomach. Gabby confronts her mother, but she defends the men, so the twins, Wilber, and Gabby move into a two-bedroom apartment of their own. The new apartment is more expensive, so the twins work more shifts to pay their share of the rent, legal fees, daily expenses, and their debt. With all their new expenses, they don’t have much left every month to pay the debt. Maricela tells them they need to send at least $1,000 per month, but most months they send nothing. Ernesto and Raúl don’t want to quit school to work more, but their jobs are ruining their grades.

After several months of harmony living together, Ernesto and Wilber are again fighting. In May, Ernesto finds a room available in a shared apartment and moves out. Raúl now owes his and Ernesto’s entire share of rent, further inhibiting his ability to pay his debt. With Ernesto gone, money is tight and they miss one month’s rent. The landlord orders them evicted, with two weeks to move. Raúl wants to move in with Ernesto, but Ernesto now enjoys living on his own and tells Raúl he can’t stay with him. Raúl cannot find an apartment as his eviction date approaches, and Ernesto still won’t let him stay with him. Markham suggests a shelter, but Raúl says he’d rather live on the street. Markham explains, “Every time one of them spoke about housing, it was like a chess move. Ernesto controlled the game, and Raúl’s defensive strategy was to avoid the position of begging” (200). Eventually, Ernesto gives in and lets Raúl move in with him. He says he’d been kidding the whole time and that “[o]f course, I wanted my brother to come live with me” (200).