No Option but North
What does it look like to leave by necessity and lack options as a Central American migrant traveling through Mexico? In the thick of the Trump candidacy in 2016, and through the travel bans his administration issued in 2017, Kelsey Freeman spent nine months interviewing countless migrants as they confronted tremendous obstacles to a better life.
No Option but North interweaves their stories with research and anecdotes from Freeman’s experiences to discuss the fundamental moral blindspots in migration—from the expanding gang violence that drives migrants out, to the dearth of legal options for working-class Central Americans and Mexicans. In the process, the book takes us on a harrowing journey that strikes at the heart of the human ability to endure.
A timely chronicle of contemporary migration from Central America and Mexico that peels back the layers of privilege underlying our migration policies, No Option But North adds powerful color and force to the immigration narrative.