Hector tells me that everyone listens to this song, "El Inmigrante" in Coachella Valley.  It has special meaning to hard-working immigrants who come here to pursue the American Dream. In The Tortilla Curtain, Candido and America confront one obstacle after another, but they don't take a step back.  They keep struggling forward.  That is what this song is about.  Hector chose it as a perfect backdrop to the novel.