Summary

Page 7 – 12—The text opens with the question “Why did you come to the United States?,” which Valleria Luiselli explains is part of an intake questionnaire given to undocumented children. As an interpreter, it is her job to interview the children in court, record their answers, and then translate them for lawyers to build a defense against their deportation. Luiselli explains the difficulty in forming a cohesive narrative out of the answers given by the children, particularly with this opening question. The attorney that takes the case must win some form of immigration relief for the child, or else the child is deported.

Luiselli recalls a road trip she took with her family in the summer of 2014. On the journey from Harlem, New York to Cochise County, Arizona, she describes the offensive language around immigration law. At the time, she and her husband were...