The issue with the topic of migration, according to author and anthropologist Jason De Len, is that people “pedal these very simplistic stories and it’s a very complex issue.”
De Le Le spent seven years meticulously examining the lives of guys who were committed to smuggling migrants into the United States from Mexico and Central America in order to investigate the problem of human smuggling.
His nonfiction work, Soldiers and Kings: Survival and Hope in the World of Human Smuggling, was the outcome, and it won De Len the coveted National Book Award for nonfiction on Wednesday.
In his first interview since receiving the honor, De Len told NBC News on the phone Thursday afternoon, “I’m still in pretty much in disbelief.”
De Le Len saw the award as a significant victory for a work that explores aspects of migration that are completely disregarded.
“I ultimately wrote a book about a group of broken, beaten, mostly young men who taught me a lot about what it’s like to try to survive,” De Len concluded. It’s evidence of simply listening, in my opinion. I wanted to enter and hear what those guys had to say. And as I realized it was my responsibility as a listener, I felt like I had gained a great deal of knowledge. I’m incredibly appreciative of the opportunity and the fact that those men all genuinely wanted to share their significant life tales.
Released in March, the book offers a more complex picture of the smugglers than the caricatures of those involved, while also taking a detailed look at the little-known realm of human smuggling and its relationship to illegal migration.
According to the University of California, Los Angeles, where De Len teaches anthropology and Chicano studies and is the director of the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, this is the first comprehensive and character-driven book that examines human smuggling through the actual travels and labor of informants, gang leaders, and guides.
In order to illustrate the complexities of undocumented immigration as well as the circumstances and reality that lead to mass migration, De Len’s book is based on seven years of study that involves tracking a group of participants.
De Len’s book centers on the travels of over half a dozen individuals from Honduras, Mexico, and other countries, even though he spoke with innumerable migrants and traffickers.
“Until we comprehend all of its complexities, we cannot start to address this issue. Individuals do not want to hear about smugglers or the political economy of unauthorized migration. They wish to overlook these issues. They want to claim that building a wall is the answer, but the world doesn’t operate that way,” he remarked. “For me, as a social scientist, as an anthropologist, my goal is to show people the reality that actually exists.”
In light of this objective, De Len stated that he thinks the anecdotes collected in his book will enhance people’s comprehension of immigration-related issues and provide them with the information they need “to ask better questions of our leaders” and “begin to address these issues in a more nuanced way.”
De Len was raised with undocumented family and primarily resided in Long Beach, California, and the Rio Grande Valley in Texas. His parents were immigrants from Mexico and the Philippines who had served in the Army.
Later in his career, De Len rose to the position of executive director of the Undocumented Migration Project, a nonprofit research organization that helps families of missing migrants who are trying to find their loved ones and works to increase awareness of worldwide migration concerns.
Since 2009, the group has been researching smuggling between Latin America and the United States, employing forensic, archeological, and visual techniques “to understand this violent social process,” according to De Le n’s website.
De Le n claimed that while writing the critically acclaimed book, he gained new insights despite his years of experience.
The research’s beauty lies in that. He remarked, “I feel like I’m learning about the world all the time.” “I did not anticipate learning lessons about empathy, hope, or how to be more reflective about my own place in the world while writing a book about smugglers.
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