REPATS – Historical Fiction
The date: February 26, 1931.
Two years into the Great Depression, jobs are scarce, hope is scarcer, and President Hoover’s anti-Mexican policies are intensifying. Victor Ray, a proud Mexican-American U.S. veteran, is simply trying to find work when he ends up in the wrong place at the wrong time: Plaza Olvera in Los Angeles.
That day, La Placita was filled with nearly 400 people. Without warning, immigration agents sealed off the exits. Armed with guns and batons, they arrested dozens on the spot—no questions asked. Families, children—and Victor—were loaded onto trains and deported.
For many like Victor, Mexico was not home. They didn’t speak the language, didn’t know the culture, and had never lived there. Yet now, they were forced to start over in a land that felt entirely foreign.
Amid the hardship, Victor meets Luz, a smart and resilient farmer. Together, they join a group of repatriados—deported Americans sent to isolated “farm colonies” in remote regions of Mexico. There, they must survive abusive conditions, support one another, and hold onto the dream of returning to the lives they were forced to leave behind in the U.S.