As a young girl growing up in a small town in Honduras, Keyla Sanders imagined her own version of the American Dream. The reality involved dangers, suffering and sacrifice during an overland journey through Guatemala and Mexico, including arrests, deportations and kidnapping. For the first time, there is a first-person account from an undocumented immigrant from the Northern Triangle countries of Central America. Keyla tells what inspired her to embark on a dangerous journey, what the journey was like, and the years of struggle she endured after attempting to navigate the U.S. immigration system. She uses her own experience to demonstrate how this broken system is as reliant on circumstance and luck as any lottery. She recounts the struggle of an undocumented immigrant while also dealing with high school, young adulthood, and eventually having her own children. Keyla’s story adds the voice of an undocumented immigrant to the conversation, demonstrating that the hardships expended in achieving one’s American Dream are what unite all those striving for a better life, regardless of where they were born or how they got here.

Keyla Sanders grew up in a small town in Honduras, and came to the United States as an undocumented immigrant when she was 16 years old. She lives in Washington, D.C. where she runs her own photography studio.

Keyla Sanders

Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 292
Bibliographic Info: 21 images, 1 map, notes, index
Copyright Date: 2023
pISBN: 978-1-4766-9199-2
eISBN: 978-1-4766-4985-6
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments  ix
Preface  1
Prologue: Her Last Breath  3
1. La Entrada  7
2. Zapatos Rotos  15
3. The Pain of Growing Up  21
4. Immigrants  27
5. Childhood  33
6. New Beginning  48
7. Our Departure  58
8. Forced Stop  64
9. Lost Shoes  71
10. Good and Bad People  75
11. Deportation  81
12. Return Journey  88
13. Christmas Day  94
14. Good Samaritan  99
15. The Train  105
16. Ransom  111
17. Immigration  117
18. Family Reunion  124
19. Miami  130
20. Teenage Challenges  137
21. Changes  142
22. High School Senior  150
23. Undocumented Immigrant  157
24. Love and Pain  166
25. Marriage  175
26. Working Woman  186
27. Decision Making  195
28. Back to My Roots  205
29. Tegucigalpa  212
30. 18 Years Later  221
31. Honduras  229
32. Back Home  236
33. A Story to Tell  241
34. Dreamer  249
35. U.S. Citizen  254
36. Mojados  265
Epilogue  271
Chapter Notes  277
Index  279