Valeria Luiselli
She is the author who works as an interpreter for immigrant children. As a Mexican-American, she comprehends both Spanish and English.
Child immigrants
They are the subjects of the text. They mostly arrive in America unaccompanied by their parents.
Lawyers
Luiselli cooperates with lawyers handling the immigrant children’s cases. Luiselli provides lawyers with notes that would help in arguing against the deportation of the immigrant children.
Attorneys
They offer immigrant children legal representation during their immigration battle.
Judges
They decide whether immigrant children would be deported or offered immigration relief.
‘Mikhail Bulgakov or Daniil Kharms’
They write absurd and ironic stories about the deportation of immigrant children: "Looking happy, the deported children exited the airport on an overcast and sweltering afternoon. One by one, they filed into a bus, playing with balloons they had been given." Such absurd stories justify the cruel removal of immigrants from America.
President Andrew Jackson
He launched the “Indian Removal Act, approved by Congress in 1830, and explains how it brutally exiled Native Americans to reservations.” Valeria Luiselli’s husband tells their children about President Andrew Jackson’s actions.
Border Patrol Officers
Once the migrant children are placed under the Border Patrol officials’ custody, they are sent to a detention location (icebox).
