All You Direct - Book Reviews

Antonio’s Gun and Delfino’s Dream: True Tales of Mexican Migration

By Sam Quinones

Vaya al norte, joven (”Go north, young man”) is the advice that reverberates throughout Mexico, driving generations of men and women across the U.S./Mexico border.

“There is a culture of departure in Mexico,” says Sam Quinones, a reporter for the Los Angeles Times and author of “Antonio’s Gun and Delfino’s Dream: True Tales of Mexican Migration.”

The book is a follow-up to Quinones previous work, “True Tales of Another Mexico,” a compilation of nonfiction stories of Mexico’s underground. With “Antonio’s Gun,” Quinones once again demonstrates his talent for reporting on people in extraordinary situations, people usually hidden from our view, and for rich storytelling.

Quinones captures the lives of shadow characters, including the Mexican Mennonite mafia, the tomato king, the best break-dancer of the Alameda and an amoral corrupt politician. All of them are placed against the backdrop of America’s immigration problem.

“I want my book to deepen the debate on immigration,” says Quinones, who will discuss and sign copies of “Antonio’s Gun” Wednesday at the Twig Book Shop in Alamo Heights.

Quinones is convinced immigration issues are more of a threat to Mexico than to the United States.

“The kids (in small Mexican villages) don’t think much of getting an education because they all know that they can do better than the most educated person in their village just by going to Dallas or Fresno or Los Angeles or Chicago,” Quinones says.

And there are many social, emotional and psychological pressures on this generation to undertake that journey.

“In a lot of these villages, every man has gone to the United States. Do you want to be the only 16-year-old not to go?” Quinones asks.

When the prodigal son returns he has a pick-up truck, fancy clothes, amazing stories and enough money for a new house. He becomes the envy of the village and that house is a giant neon blinking billboard advertising the glory and riches of illegal immigration.

That’s why Quinones says the number of illegal immigrants is only going to grow.

If the current trend continues (and Quinones says a border wall isn’t going to change that), it’s estimated that the immigration population in the United States will grow to 25 million, a quarter of Mexico’s population.

“Mexico is bleeding to death at the border,” he said.

Entire villages are being abandoned: “There are more Zacatecanoes living in the United States than in the state of Zacatecas.”

Mexico, says Quinones, needs vast reforms, but with its disenfranchised population leaving the country in droves there is no pressure to enact those reforms, he says.

Quinones doesn’t want his book to say “pity the poor immigrant.”

In a story called “The Saga of South Gate,” Quinones tells the horror story of the “Mexicanization” of city council politics in South Gate, Calif. A villain named Albert Robles uses slander, race-based manipulation and political tricks commonly used in Mexico to build a corrupt political machine.

Eventually, the people of South Gate realize government reform is possible in their new home. But the question remains if it will truly come to their Mexican motherland.