Detained: A Boy's Journal of Survival and Resilience - Paperback

by David Esperanza (Author), Gerardo Iván Morales (Author)

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.

Author Biography

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.

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.