Esperanza Rising Justice and Judgment Quotes

How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)

Quote #7

"Repatriation," said Marta's aunt. "La Migra—the immigration authorities—round up people who cause problems and check their papers. If they are not in order, or if they do not happen to have their papers with them, the immigration officials send them back to Mexico. We have heard that they have sent people whose families have lived here for generations, those who are citizens and have never even been to Mexico." (10.58)

This is one of the most contentious issues here: how is it fair to deport people who are American citizens?

Quote #8

"¡Americana! ¡Americana!" yelled one woman and she began to unfold some papers. One of the officials took the papers from her hand and tore them into pieces. "Get on the bus," he ordered. (12.41)

In this scene, the immigration official doesn't care if the woman is an American citizen or not. Because she's causing trouble, and because she's of Mexican heritage, he's kicking her out of the country. No matter your opinions on immigrations, this one's a no-brainer: it's unfair, unjust, and definitely illegal.

Quote #9

She was glad she had kept working and thankful that the camp had voted not to strike, but she knew that under different circumstances, it could have been her on that bus. [...] Some of these people did not deserve their fate today. How was it that the United States could send people to Mexico who had never even lived there? (12.67)

Esperanza starts to suspect that the United States isn't quite as perfect as she had thought it would be. For the first time, she starts to sympathize with the strikers.