4.5
Detained
ByPublisher Description
A 2025 Latino Book Award Winner, Bronze Medal for Best Autobiography — English
“A shocking and moving read. A brutally honest account of the impact of family separation at the US border.”—Kirkus Reviews
The first-ever memoir of a child’s experience in detention on the US/Mexico border under President Trump’s infamous family separation policy.
David Esperanza was just thirteen years old when he lost his caregivers, his beloved grandmother and uncle. Since both of his parents were working and living in the United States, David was left on his own in a small town in Honduras. He quickly realized he simply could not make enough money to survive so he made the difficult decision to head north with his cousins and hopefully reunite with his parents in el norte.
Together, the boys struggled to survive a long and treacherous journey through Central America and Mexico. Along the way, David and his cousins formed a deep bond, only for the four to be brutally separated at the border of the United States. When he is captured and processed at a facility, neither David nor his family are given an update on when he will be released or where he’ll go next. Over the next five months, he kept a journal of his experience. The pages tell a story of pain, cruelty, friendship, and resilience, a living testament to the reality of the border. Amidst the senseless inhumanity and violence of US immigration policy, David found hope in the friendship he and his fellow companions forged, and mentorship from one intrepid advocate who fought on his behalf named Gerardo Iván Morales.
Timely, powerful, and unforgettable, Detained brings the border crisis to vivid life.
“A shocking and moving read. A brutally honest account of the impact of family separation at the US border.”—Kirkus Reviews
The first-ever memoir of a child’s experience in detention on the US/Mexico border under President Trump’s infamous family separation policy.
David Esperanza was just thirteen years old when he lost his caregivers, his beloved grandmother and uncle. Since both of his parents were working and living in the United States, David was left on his own in a small town in Honduras. He quickly realized he simply could not make enough money to survive so he made the difficult decision to head north with his cousins and hopefully reunite with his parents in el norte.
Together, the boys struggled to survive a long and treacherous journey through Central America and Mexico. Along the way, David and his cousins formed a deep bond, only for the four to be brutally separated at the border of the United States. When he is captured and processed at a facility, neither David nor his family are given an update on when he will be released or where he’ll go next. Over the next five months, he kept a journal of his experience. The pages tell a story of pain, cruelty, friendship, and resilience, a living testament to the reality of the border. Amidst the senseless inhumanity and violence of US immigration policy, David found hope in the friendship he and his fellow companions forged, and mentorship from one intrepid advocate who fought on his behalf named Gerardo Iván Morales.
Timely, powerful, and unforgettable, Detained brings the border crisis to vivid life.
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Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communitiesDetained Reviews
4.5
“I saw someone say that every American who needs to read this will not pick it up. And it's true.
However, even if you're the most educated person, and you know what's happening in the US with ICE and "children in cages," there is value in this memoir. Because headlines alone can't capture the emotional turmoil and abuse that these kids are being put through. I'd argue that they miss a majority of the horror that migrants are subjected to when crossing the boarder.
Every child deserves kindness and respect. Taking the time to get to know D. and his journey will give you a new perspective. And new hope. Juntos somos más fuertes <3”
“If you want a real glimpse into the juvenile immigration camps, I recommend this heart wrenching book”“This book is heartbreaking from beginning to end. Reading it in its original Spanish made the experience feel even more intimate and unfiltered — the tone, the rhythm, the emotion all hit in a way that feels deeply personal to me. There’s a rawness to the language that pulls you closer to the lived experiences being shared, making it feel less like you’re reading a story and more like you’re witnessing something real as it unfolds.
This is the kind of book everyone should read, especially those who haven’t experienced or taken the time to understand the realities of immigration into the U.S. It challenges so many assumptions and forces the reader to sit with stories that are often oversimplified, misunderstood, distorted, or flat-out fabricated.
What stands out most is how different, and how much more painful, the reality is compared to the narratives people often believe. This wasn’t news to me, but I know there are (too) many Americans who have an inaccurate perspective regarding immigration and, to be frank, about those who look and sound different.
This story isn’t about threat, it’s about survival, sacrifice, and humanity. It’s a difficult but deeply important read.”
“This was a very difficult but necessary read.
We’re constantly bombarded by bad news. Between work, family, the ever-changing political climate, it’s hard to focus on any one injustice, to the point we become numb to it. The separation of families at the border is one of those such injustices that has not received enough attention or outrage.
This is the first book I’ve seen told from the POV of a child detained in the USA during Trump’s family separation policy. D is an Honduran boy who (at 13 years old) took on the challenging journey from his hometown, through Guatemala and Mexico, to the United States to reunite with his immigrant parents. Unfortunately, what was already a long, scary, and life-threatening journey, ultimately led to months of trauma as a child detainee. D was held under inhumane living conditions, despite the fact that his parents were able and willing to pick him up at any moment.
I cried several times as I read D’s story. I thought of how many thousands of kids went through the same or worse. I pictured the faces of my nephews and nieces at thirteen years old. And I thought of the children who were even younger. I don’t understand how hate can be strong enough to create all the harm that the family separation policy and immigrant detention centers as whole have caused.
This book is a reminder that there is hope, love, and a community that can and needs to stand up for those who have no voice.”
About David Esperanza
David Esperanza was born in Honduras. When he was a baby, his parents migrated to the United States so they could provide him with a better life. At the age of thirteen, he and three cousins began traveling north to seek asylum in the United States. When they arrived at the border in 2018, at the height of the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” policy, he was separated from his cousins and sent to a child detention center in Tornillo, Texas. After five months of excruciating uncertainty, he was released and reunited with his father. He is now the proud father of a baby boy.
Other books by David Esperanza
Gerardo Iván Morales
Gerardo Iván Morales was born in Irapuato, Guanajuato, Mexico, and immigrated to the United States of America in 2000 when he was five. He is passionate about advocating for human rights and immigration. In 2018, Iván dedicated six months inside an American child detention center providing aid and support to detained asylum seeking children. On his first day, he met David Esperanza and the two forged a bond like brothers that lasts to this day.
Other books by Gerardo Iván Morales
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