The struggle of immigration. The search for a better life. The emotional, physical and legal challenges. CNN well captures these central and driving themes in its 26 June 2024 report: Migrant apprehensions have dropped over 40% since Biden announced asylum restrictions, DHS says .
As the CNN report then described, the Department of Homeland Security said President Biden’s executive action barring asylum at the US southern border had been established about three weeks prior to its reporting. Migrants who cross the US-Mexico border illegally are barred from seeking asylum once a daily threshold is met. And unless they meet certain exceptions, they could be returned to Mexico or to their country of origin.
CNN also accounts that American Civil Liberties Union’s Immigrants’ Rights Project, warned that, under the new restrictions, “migrants with credible claims of danger are being denied an asylum screening.”
Immigrants affected by the Executive Action are certain to continue to search for opportunities and stability better than offered in their countries of origin, despite legal and social challenges posed by Executive changes.
And while the emotional conflict and added struggle the Executive Action could cause for immigrants attempting to integrate into society and feel secure in their daily lives, it also reflects the broader societal debates on immigration policies and immigration enforcement.
Hasta Mañana portrays the personal challenges immigrants face, the emotional toll of leaving one’s country of origin and the uncertainty of starting anew. It explores the motivations behind irregular migration, authentically depicts migrants striving to build a brighter future for themselves despite inconceivable hardship during and after the migration journey.
Hasta Mañana also offers readers a rare and unique look into the daunting experience of the many U.S. Customs and Border Protection Border Patrol Agents who selflessly risk their lives to provide public safety and national security as they encounter irregular migrants – all too often in crisis and delicate moments – and at the same moment, capture the most ruthless international criminal fugitives, transnational gang members and traffickers in drugs, weapons and human beings.
And while Hasta Mañana is a work of fiction that explores immigration through personal narratives and emphasizes emotional journeys, its timeless story seems to have foretold of the individual human experience, as lived by immigrants, and law enforcement officials, like those of the Border Patrol Agents referenced in CNN’s report. As politicians continue to grapple with the many dimensions and complex realities of immigration policy, the emotional journeys depicted in this book serve as a cautionary tale, reminding us that behind the statistics and political rhetoric, there are real people on all sides of the issue whose lives hang in the balance.
As one former U.S. Border Patrol Agent stated, “The backdrop of the story is set on the U.S./Mexico border and accurately depicts the complexities of the relevant issues relating to the border today.”
Hasta Mañana (Dorrance Publishing Company, Inc.) is available at major book distributors and its release in the Spanish language is scheduled for late 2024.