Forced Out : Migrant Mothers in Search of Refuge and Hope

2024 Outstanding Academic Title, given by Choice Reviews

Features the stories of undocumented mothers who reunite with their children in the US years after fleeing violence at home

Facing escalating chaos and violence in their home countries, many Central American mothers have found that a desperate flight to the north was their only choice. Many left their children behind in order to spare them the hardships of the journey. If they made it across the border without getting locked up or deported, they entered a country increasingly unwilling to recognize claims of asylum.

This book features the stories of women who crossed the border without encountering immigration authorities, in some cases several times, and settled in the greater Washington, DC, area, living in the shadows for years. By centering on the voices of the women themselves, it offers an intimate look at what drove them from home and the challenges they face in reuniting years later with their children.

Forced Out traces the women’s evolving attitudes toward the violence embedded in institutions and everyday life in their home countries, as well as their continued vulnerability and dependence in the US. It also highlights the challenges they face in parenting children adapting to American society and learning English while living with mothers who had left them years before and become strangers to them. Rather than sensationalizing their trauma or dwelling on their vulnerability, the stories reveal the women’s rich, complex inner lives, their resilience in overcoming senseless violence, and their unswerving commitment to bettering their children’s lives. Clear, vivid, and impactful, this is a humbling and humane look at the state of migration to America today.

Susan J. Terrio is Professor Emerita of Anthropology and French Studies at Georgetown University. She is the author of Whose Child am I? Unaccompanied, Undocumented Children in U.S. Immigration Custody and the co-editor of Illegal Encounters: The Effect of Detention and Deportation in the Lives of Young People.