Vargas, Jose Antonio "Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen" - 2018
This is such an interesting book that puts a face to all those "illegal immigrants". Even though the author is not your average undocumented citizen, he can express his problems and with that the problem of all the other immigrants who would love to be legal but just have no chance.
But it is also a story about all those who oppose immigration and it teaches us that the country could gain so much from making it easier to attain a citizenship. Many people live somewhere in countries where they weren't born and whose passport they don't carry. If you make it easier for those who really contribute to your country, or need your help, you might end up with an easier life for everyone.
The story is so honest and so well written, you realize that every single of those numbers is talking about a human being.
I think this should be read by many many people though I am sure those who need it most will not even look at it.
From the back cover:
"My name is Jose Antonio Vargas. I was born in the Philippines. When I was twelve, my mother sent me to the United States to live with her parents. While applying for a driver’s permit, I found out my papers were fake. More than two decades later, I am still here illegally, with no clear path to American citizenship. To some people, I am the ''most famous illegal' in America. In my mind, I am only one of an estimated 11 million human beings whose uncertain fate is under threat in a country I call my home.
This is not a book about the politics of immigration. This book - at its core - is not about immigration at all. This book is about homelessness, not in a traditional sense, but about the unsettled, unmoored psychological state in which undocumented immigrants like me find ourselves. This book is about lying and being forced to lie to get by; about passing as an American and as a contributing citizen; about families, keeping them together, and having to make new ones when you can’t. This book is about what it means to not have a home."
Vargas authored or contributed to three Washington Post articles about the Virginia Tech shootings that were awarded the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Reporting.
Truly an important book!
ReplyDeleteYes, indeed.
ReplyDeleteNice review, Marianne! More people need to read this book. It is important look and take on immigration. Unless, one is a Native American, then we're all immigrants/descendants of immigrants here in the US.
ReplyDeleteFive of my great grandparents were immigrants from either Germany or Italy. It would have been very interesting to have heard their stories of coming to America.
My husband is an immigrant of the Philippines and moved here with his parents and younger sister when he was 7 years old. I've heard his immigrant story and his parents perspective too. Hearing why people tend to migrate to another country makes for interesting reading.
Thank you, LIsa. And thanks for your review which was also very interesting. You are right, most US Americans nowadays are descendents from immigrants though many seem to forget that - or at least pretend to.
DeleteYou should either encourage your husband to write a book about his immigration or write one yourself, there can't be enough of these books.