"Discusses a number of challenges faced by people traveling on the Migrant Trail of Central America."--

Provides a look at how smugglers and traffickers, backed by powerful, well-financed networks, have affected the global economy, examining the interconnections among a variety of such illegal enterprises and their operations.

"Beautiful and charismatic, nineteen-year-old Checker Secretti is the most gifted and original drummer that the club-goers of Astoria, Queens, have ever heard. When he plays, conundrums seem to solve themselves, brilliant thoughts spring to mind, and couples fall in love. The members of his band, The Derailleurs, are passionately devoted to their guiding spirit, as are all who fall under Checker's spell. But when another drummer, Eaton Striker, hears...

"At twenty-one, life in Senegal couldn't be better for Lola. An aspiring writer and university graduate, she has a great job, a vibrant social life, and a future filled with possibility. But fate disrupts her world when she falls for Armand, an American Marine stationed at the U.S. Embassy. Her mother, a high court judge in Ghana who endeavors to keep her anchored to home, disapproves of her choice. Against her mother's wishes, Lola plans a future...

An account of the May 2003 incident in which nineteen illegal immigrants lost their lives while trying to cross the Mexican-American border. Discusses the trafficking operations of Karla Chavez, who abandoned the victims in a truck in Texas.

"Nine-year-old Betita and her parents fled Mexico after her uncle was killed by the cartels, and settled in Los Angeles seeking political asylum and safety in what her father calls Aztlan, the land of the cranes; but now they have been swept up by by the government's Immigration Customs Enforcement, her father deported back to Mexico, and Betita and her mother confined in a family detention camp--Betita finds heart in her imagination and the picture...

"What happens when the all-American high school student discovers he's undocumented? Rafa's parents didn't want him to grow up feeling different because, as his mom told him: "Dreams should not have borders." Rafa had no idea of his immigration status until he tried to get his driver's license during his junior year of high school. Suddenly, his perfectly curated and slightly racist (race-ish, if you will) American life came undone. While his parents...

A spell-binding novel of a modern-day Saint Francis, who is transformed by the drama, tragedy, and redemptive promise of one of the great migrations of history - along the river called the Rio Grande. Adrian Northwood is a painter and a very rich young man - his family contributes millions to the Vatican - whose wife and son have just died horribly. Suddenly rootless, the dazed and remorseful Northwood drives aimlessly through the United States, stopping...

Hunting out prospects for the minor leagues, failed major league ball player Dennis Birch endeavors to smuggle a promising young pitcher out of Cuba in an effort to make something out of his own career.

Dante encourages his fifteen-year-old daughter to date only Spanish-speaking Hispanics, but she ignores his advice and runs off with a non-Spanish speaking Latino with tatoos and a shaved head. The disappearance cannot be reported to the police because Dante is in the U.S. illegally. So he sets out for Las Vegas, where the boyfriend supposedly lives, a journey that ultimately sheds light on issues such as immigration, cultural assimilation, and the...