We Are Not from Here

We Are Not from Here by Jenny Torres Sanchez is a contemporary young adult novel first published in 2020. Although the book features elements of magical realism, the novel is primarily realistic in style. We Are Not from Here examines traumatic experiences of physical, emotional, and sexual violence as three unaccompanied minors travel from Guatemala to the US-Mexico border. We Are Not from Here is a Pura Belpre Honor Book (2021). This guide references the 2020 edition by Philomel Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House.

Plot Summary

Pulga, a 15-year-old boy, was born and raised in the town of Puerto Barrios, Guatemala. He has two very close friends: Chico, 13, and Pequeña, 17. Chico is like a brother to Pulga, and lives with Pulga and Pulga’s mother as his own mother was killed two years before. Pulga thinks of 17-year old Pequeña as a close cousin thanks to the friendship between their mothers. For years, Pulga has been learning about the migrant route toward the United States. He has maps and money hidden away for the day when he might have a chance to leave—or need to run.

Rey Villa is an ex-convict who extorts money from local business owners in Puerto Barrios. When Pulga and Chico inadvertently witness a murder committed by Rey, they are forced into his service as unwilling henchmen. They cannot seek lawful help out of fear of revenge from Rey. Rey impregnated Pequeña through sexual assault and proposes to her after she gives birth. Pequeña knows she must run away to escape him, and a vision tells Pequeña that Chico and Pulga are in danger as well. When Pequeña says that they have to leave, Pulga buys three bus tickets and the teenagers leave secretly in the middle of the night.

Two bus rides get them to Tecún Umán where they cross Rio Suchiate into Mexico. The next day, they find a shelter for migrants where they hear about the dangers of La Bestia, the series of trains that migrants attempt to board to ride north. After a series of vans take them beyond immigration checkpoints, they arrive at a place where many other migrants are waiting for the train to leave. They successfully board the first train and feel celebratory, but sober quickly, afraid to fall asleep and fall off La Bestia.

When the train is approached by armed kidnappers, the migrants jump off while it is still moving. Chico suffers a concussion and the three teens must stay a week at a shelter where an aid worker, Soledad, tends to him. Soledad tells Pequeña she must be strong and encourages her to think of a new identity. Pequeña chooses the name Flor. Pulga convinces Chico that they must keep going. After boarding and fleeing several more trains on the route, Chico is weak and sick. When the train suddenly slows, Chico tumbles off and is caught under the wheels. Pequeña and Pulga jump off to find him and Chico dies in Pulga’s arms. At a shelter nearby a priest convinces Pulga to bury Chico in a local graveyard of others who did not survive the trip. Pequeña presses Pulga to move on after several weeks; he leaves with her but is broken in spirit. Pequeña leads them from train to train until they arrive in the town of Altar, where dishonest men try to force them to pay for shelter and supplies. They seek refuge in a church where a nun administers first aid and a blessing before sending them to a local shelter. There, Pequeña arranges for a coyote, a migrant smuggler, to lead them across the desert to the border. She pays for the coyote’s services with the engagement ring from Rey.

Pulga, Pequeña, and a small group of other migrants follow the coyote for two nights; they rest in shade in the day. On the third night, Pulga gives up. Pequeña cannot convince him to walk with the group, and they are left behind. Pequeña forces Pulga out into the desert where they fall unconscious due to dehydration. They wake and try to walk in the heat of the sun, but are discovered by border patrol agents. Pulga falls unconscious again but Pequeña flees. She believes she weathers the night and is rescued by Marta, Soledad’s sister, when she wanders close to a road the next day. Pequeña speak with her mother by telephone. Pequeña’s mother then calls Pulga’s mother who arranges for his deceased father’s sister in the US to find him. Pulga is taken to a migrant detention center. He remains hopeless and traumatized until his father’s sister comes to take guardianship of him. Together they call his mother; Pulga cannot speak but feels the stirrings of life and spirit reawakening in his heart.