Just Like Us: The True Story of Four Mexican Girls Coming of Age in America

The author, accompanied by Justino Chavez as a translator, goes to visit Alma in Durango, feeling guilty that Yadira can’t go instead. Alma is living in her aunt’s house with her mother, sister, baby, and her brother. They survive with money that Jesus and Alma’s brothers send back from the U.S. Alma tried to work, but she made very little money and there was no one to watch the baby, whom she has named Maribel. Alma is anguished about having to leave her children in the U.S., but she does not want them to forfeit their futures by coming to Mexico. Her sister, Octavia, has also been deported by the INS, while her son lives in the U.S. Alma says she is breaking up with Jesus, and her brother is taking care of Zulema and Laura while Raúl is coming to visit Alma the following week.

Alma’s father, Tomás, has worked in the US through the bracero program, harvesting crops, and he received a green card for his agricultural work. He applied for legal residency for his wife and sons, but he had thought Alma was going to get a green card through her husband (his request for his other family members was denied because of a clerical error).