SALVATRUCHA: “Haven’t you had enough of this life? This hard life on the road? Things will never change. These lives are the ones we’re dealt. I’m on this side of the gun, you’re on that side. Your wretched lot will never change; dirt and scum trod under my shoes. Why don’t I just do you both a favor then? Put you in a mass grave near here. Hmm. Yes. Or not go through the trouble; just leave your bodies to rot in the jungle.”

Two cousins from besieged Gaza travel across Latin America to the U.S. in search of a better life free from Israeli rule... yet they keep finding it at every turn of the journey.

Gabriel Schivone’s writing spans literary and graphic fiction, as well as journalism. 558 Days marks his recent foray into the theatre world. His forthcoming book, with an introduction written by Noam Chomsky, is titled Making the New “Illegal”: How Decades of U.S. Intervention in Central America Triggered the Modern Wave of Immigration (Prometheus Books, 2018).

SOURCES

Astrid Galvan and Tarek Hamada, “Palestinian Men Traveled Through 8 Countries to Reach US,” Associated Press, 15 May 2016. Online: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_MIDDLE_EAST_TO_ARIZONA_AZOL-?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

John Washington, “The US Wants to Deport This Palestinian – but First It’d Have to Recognize Palestine,” The Nation, 28 March 2016. Online: http://www.thenation.com/article/can-you-be-deported-if-you-are-stateless/

Perla Trevizo, “Palestinian refugees in limbo after 7,000-mile journey to US border,” Arizona Daily Star, 20 February 2016. Online: http://tucson.com/news/palestinian-refugees-in-limbo-after--mile-journey-to-us/article_7ee98b68-2f97-587b-a366-190b0d966f56.html

Jimmy Johnson and Linda Quiquivix, "Israel and Mexico swap notes on abusing rights," Electronic Intifada, 21 May 2013.

Amnesty International, “Jailed Without Justice: Immigration Detention in the USA,” 25 March 2009. Online: http://www.amnestyusa.org/research/reports/usa-jailed-without-justice