Now We Are Here

Family Migration, Children’s Education,and Dreams for a Better Life

Who gets to live a life with dignity? Each day, families around the world make the difficult decision to leave their homes in search of safety, stability, and opportunity. For many migrant families, this search centers on access to strong, caring, and equitable educational systems that enable children to flourish. Now We Are Here follows the lives of 16 migrant families from Brazil, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras as they navigate the promises and challenges of the American education system. Drawing on immersive ethnographic research in homes and schools from 2018 to 2021, Gabrielle Oliveira offers an intimate portrait of these families’ experiences. She weaves together stories of parental sacrifice, children’s educational and migration journeys, and educators’ responses to trauma—all shaped by the additional disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Oliveira highlights the perseverance of families confronting the overlapping crises of border detention, family separation, and a public health emergency. These experiences forced them to reimagine education and what it means to build a future in the U.S. By examining how migrant children engage in classrooms, how teachers understand their needs, and how hope evolves, this book offers vital insights into the intersections of schooling and immigration. It calls for more responsive educational practices and policies that affirm the dignity and potential of all migrant children.

Buy Book

Winner of Book of the Year Award for 2026 by the American Educational Research Association (AERA)

Council of Anthropology OutstandingBook Award

Bryce Wood Book Award

Gregory Bateson Book Award

ALLA Book Award

Reviews

“Both a moving testament to the endless hardships and monumental sacrifices that parents will endure for their children and a scathing indictment of the cruelty of American immigration enforcement policies. With sensitivity and a nuanced ethnographic perspective, Oliveira gives us deep insight into the human costs of the growing anti-immigration new world order that seeks to demonize and punish those literally running for their lives. In a global moment where empathy is going extinct, we need the stories in Now We Are Here more than ever.”
―Jason De León, University of California, Los Angeles

“This is a powerful, intimate ethnography. It reveals how migrant families navigate multiple disruptions―from border separations to pandemic schooling―while holding onto education as their ‘currency of love’ for their children. Oliveira masterfully captures the complex socio-emotional landscape of parental sacrifice, guilt, and unwavering hope through three years of deep engagement with sixteen Latin American immigrant families. A must-read that humanizes immigration beyond headlines, showing how families persist in their quest for dignity despite cruel policies designed to break them.”
―Marcelo M. Suárez-Orozco, University of Massachusetts, Boston

“Through evocative prose and insightful analysis Gabrielle Oliveira sheds light on the impact of trauma and the ongoing challenges posed by border detention, family separation, and COVID-19 pandemic. In doing so, she demonstrates how hope can flourish amidst adversity, urging us to rethink educational practices for all migrant children. A remarkable contribution and essential reading.”
―Roberto G. Gonzales, University of Pennsylvania