Tunnel Kids

by Lawrence J. Taylor, Maeve Hickey

Winner of the Southwest Book Award!

Beneath the streets of the U.S.-Mexico border, children are coming of age. They have come from all over Mexico to find shelter and adventure in the drainage tunnels that connect the twin cities of Nogales, Sonora, and Nogales, Arizona. This book opens up the world of the tunnel kids and tells how in this murky underworld of struggling immigrants, drug dealers, and thieves, these kids have carved out a place of their own. Two parallel tunnels— each fourteen feet wide and several miles long— drain the summer rains from Mexico to the United States. Here and in the crumbling colonias you'll meet the tunnel streetwise El Boston, a six-year veteran of the tunnels; his little pal Jesús; Jesús' girlfriend, La Flor, and her six-month-old baby; wild Negra; poetic Guanatos; moody Romel and his beautiful girlfriend, La Fanta. They form an extended family of some two dozen young people who live hard-edged lives and answer to no one in El Barrio Libre— the free barrio.

Lawrence Taylor and Maeve Hickey met these kids at Mi Nueva Casa, the safe house built to draw the youths out of the tunnels and into a more normal life. The authors spent two summers with tunnel kids as they roamed all over Nogales and beyond in their struggle to survive. In the course of their adventures the kids described their lives, talking about what might tempt them to leave the tunnels— and what kept them there. Hickey's stunning portraits provide a heart-stopping counterpoint to Taylor's incisive prose. Story and photos together open a window into the life of the tunnel kids—a world like that of many homeless children, precarious and adaptive, albeit unique to the border. Where most people might see just another gang of doped-up, violent children, Taylor and Hickey discover displaced and sometimes heroic young people whose stories add a human dimension to the world of the U.S.-Mexico border.

Genres: Nonfiction, Anthropology, Social Justice

148 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 2001

Reviews

[Haley Planicka · Rating 3 out of 5]

A really interesting premise following the lives of kids navigating often volatile and complex lives in and around drainage tunnels that connect the two Nogales', split by the US-Mexico border. I had a few issues with this though- I found some of the descriptions of the kids and their behaviors to be a bit problematic/over-simplified, and the narrative style was dull and unfocused at times. I think it could have benefitted from connecting the vignettes and analysis more and only focusing on a few of the kids' stories to get a more in-depth look into their lives.

I did appreciate the ethnographic approach of having the kids interview each other, as it gave a really interesting insight into their current realities and pressing concerns through the questions they asked. As this was published over two decades ago, I'd be really interested to know what has happened to these kids and if the tunnels are still active.

[Kimberley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Poorly written.
Sympathies to the kids and the futures of the Mexicans crossing the border into the USA. Just did not like the structure of this book.

[Nick · Rating 3 out of 5]

The tunnels in question are drainage canals that link the towns named Nogales on both sides of the US-Mexico border. The kids in question are largely homeless, often drug-using adolescents (and one adult, the mother of one of the kids), gang-affiliated but mostly for defensive purposes. The authors met these children in a drop-in center operated by the Mexican government to make some effort at offering them a safe alternative and the hope of a way out. School-like activities of course bore them, but some of them loved taking photographs, and others devised their own surveys of their friends. What makes the book worth reading is the individual portraits (photographs and narratives), the compelling hopes, energy, wit, and loyalty to each other (not withstanding the squabbling that accompanies any group of adolescents ). What remains in the mind is the frustration of such spirited young people in the grip of desolation. Of course, they don't see it that way; to them it is just their environment. And it isn't necessarily permanent, as one of the girls shows when she becomes a mother.

[Abby Rojas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tunnel Kids by Lawrence J. Taylor talks about the kids living in the drainage tunnels between Nogales, Mexico and Nogales, Arizona. Kids from 13-18 years of age who have made lives in between both borders. This book is written as Taylor describes two summer he spends getting to know the kids on a personal level, getting to know their families, their stories, and asking them a number of questions that were written by El Boston a tunnel kid himself. This whole story was created by the kids themselves, what they wanted to share with Lawrence, they even set out to plan their own pictures. The only reason I will downgrade stars is because I don't really like book that tend to stick to one place, one idea, etc. but this book kept me up for 2 nights wanting to know what happens to the kids living in the tunnel.

[Kelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

After a couple of trips to the US/Mexico border in recent weeks, I am interested in learning more about the desperation that drives people to cross into the US by any means possible. This book was an interesting look into the kids who make their living in the tunnels between Nogales, Sonora and Nogales, Arizona.

[Evelyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kids sho survive in a tunnel that crosses U.S./Mexican border in Nogales, MX and Nogales, AZ. Painful commentary on these kids' lives.