This quote by Carlos Fuentes epitomizes Echoes from the Wall: Real Stories of Mexican Migrants by Judy King. With so much division being fostered these days by politicians with private agendas, it’s hard to see the similarities we all share. Judy King does an excellent job both sharing stories of Mexican migrants and the recent U.S. policy change that are affecting them.

In Echoes from the Wall, you’ll meet Varo, Moises, Ramon, Arturo, Roberto, Jose, and Ken who are sometimes documented, sometimes not migrant workers. Then there are special circumstances:

• Erica, a promising, bright young scholar accepted at Yale who is unable to get a student visa.
• Rafael, married to a U.S. citizen and father of 2 U.S. citizens, who is unable to obtain residency.
• Leo, a wounded veteran, deported from the country he lived in since he was 3 years old.
• Lalo, whose house is filled to overflowing with his brother’s wives and children.

You’ll also see the facts about remittances sent to Mexico, border facial recognition policies, Legal Permanent Residence, the effects of the Border Wall on wildlife, the high cost of crossing the desert into the U.S. and the illegality of providing food, water, and medical treatment to migrants, the damage to children separated from their parents, the truth about healthcare and taxes for migrants,  whether migrants are more apt to be criminals than U.S. born citizens, who is financing the mega-detention centers, and how the Bracero work program began the immigration cycle from Mexico to the U.S.

Additionally, you’ll read about the importance of family to the Mexican people, Saint Toribio, the patron saint of travelers, La Virgen de Guadalupe and her iconic presence on both sides of the borders.

Echoes from the Wall ends with a list of both fiction and non-fiction books for further reading about Mexican migrants and the immigration situation as it stands in the U.S.

This well-researched book poignantly tells the story of those who otherwise might not be heard. Tony Burton, Arturo Garcia, and Richard Rhoda contributed to clarifying once and for all who stands to gain by the propagation of an immigrant crisis in the United States.

You can read more about Judy King here.