The Book Of Rosy - Rosayra Pablo Cruz
This book is beautifully written! Rosy’s voice is honest, lyrical, and describes just how traumatic and difficult her personal journey to the US, and her encounter with Trump’s despicable zero tolerance policy was.
This book is roughly divided into two parts: Rosayra Pablo Cruz’s story, and then Julie Schwietert Collazo’s journey to creating the non profit Immigrant Families Together, and how she became part of Rosy’s story here in the US.
Rosy was born in Guatemala, lived mainly in poverty and survived several very traumatic events before she was even really an adult. Violence and death are everyday occurrences where she comes from, and she made the journey to the US a first time before going back home to join her children again, and then a second time once she realized her eldest son was in danger in Guatemala, leaving with her two sons. The second time happened just as Trump’s zero tolerance policy went into effect, and when Rosy claimed asylum at the border her two children were taken away from her and sent thousands of miles away.
In the meantime, a group of women, including Julie, were so distraught about the fact that children were being ripped from their parents’ arms (who wouldn’t be?!), that they formed an organization to help pay women’s bonds, reunite them with their children, and help them navigate the system. It is thanks to Immigrant Families Together that Rosy was able to pay her bond, make the trip from Eloy to NYC and be reunited with her children.
This period in US immigration history is especially dark, and it hurts my heart to think how many families were ripped apart, how many mothers were stuck in detention centers not knowing where their children had been taken. Rosy’s youngest son was still nursing when she made that second journey to the US, and still he was taken from her. The cruelty is unbelievable, yet it happened. I’m glad that Rosy’s story has a happier ending than some, but I finished the book wondering about all of the stories that did not have a happy ending, about all of the people stuck in detention centers, and all of the children who are still “lost” in the “system”. We are all human and we all have a right to a safe home, no matter where we come from. It’s not a crime to be an immigrant and to seek for safety, for a better life. So when are we going to stop criminalizing people for doing exactly that?
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review. And thanks to Rosy for telling her story, as hard as it must have been to relive.