In 2013, Markham was assigned by the Virginia Quarterly Review to report on the recent surge in unaccompanied minor immigrants “and what happened to them once they’d made it into the United States” (xv). Markham had been working with refugees and immigrants in Oakland since 2006, and since 2011 had been working at Oakland International High School coordinating programs for newly arrived English-language learner students and their families. In 2014, Markham met the Flores twins. The twins intrigued Markham:

What were these children really risking—and enduring—to come here, and what was the likelihood they would gain the right to stay? Would they really be better off if they did? Were the stories I was hearing overblown, and could I take their reasons for coming to the United States at face value? Answering these questions became a personal imperative, one that would help me better understand my students, my country, and the endless churn of southern migration into the United States (xvii).

Markham reported on violence in El Salvador, Mexico, Guatemala, and Texas, and extensively interviewed the Flores family and those in their network. She concludes that most in the Northern Triangle—Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador—are migrating for a “better life”: one without the risk of being murdered.