The Double Life of Estela Carillo and Its Focus on Illegal Immigration

Among the major themes that The Double Life of Estella Castillo focuses on is illegal immigration of Mexicans to the United States. Among the characters highlighting this theme is Leticia along with her family.Leticia went to the USA to find her husband who left her and their children in Mexico in order to give them a better life. When Leticia finally finds him, she learns that he is already married to an American citizen who is pregnant with his child.With their parents gone, Leticia's children also cross the border from Mexico illegally and almost get smuggled by criminals. Fortunately, they manage to escape but are apprehended by the American authorities. Leticia has no way to keep them in the country and they face being deported since they have no legal papers.Leticia desperately accepts the help of a stranger that she met and agrees to marry him so that she could become a legal citizen and hence her children.The children are not fond of their mother's new husband and with good reason. Tom seemed very nice at first but the first red flag was raised when he told Leticia that his wife divorced him and filed a restraining order against him so he had to move. Who files a restraining order on a good person? That is the first question Leticia should have asked herself…She was blinded because Tom was very helpful when he offered to marry her and also gave her a place to stay along with her children but he is fast becoming very dangerous. He is short tempered and keeps forcing himself on Leticia now that they are married. He also keeps scolding Leticia and her children, demanding that they respect his authority as the man of the house. It's only a matter of time before he turns abusive and I hope that Leticia is able to save herself and her children in time.What do you think of Tom's sudden change of character? Is it really worth it to marry someone you don't know just for the legal papers?