Review: The Undocumented Americans

It has taken me a while to write this review but here it is! Today I’m sharing my review of The Undocumented Americans by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio. This is an important book about immigrants in the US and I hope everyone reads it!

Synopsis

One of the first undocumented immigrants to graduate from Harvard reveals the hidden lives of her fellow undocumented Americans in this deeply personal and groundbreaking portrait of a nation.

Writer Karla Cornejo Villavicencio was on DACA when she decided to write about being undocumented for the first time using her own name. It was right after the election of 2016, the day she realized the story she’d tried to steer clear of was the only one she wanted to tell. So she wrote her immigration lawyer’s phone number on her hand in Sharpie and embarked on a trip across the country to tell the stories of her fellow undocumented immigrants–and to find the hidden key to her own.

Looking beyond the flashpoints of the border or the activism of the DREAMers, Cornejo Villavicencio explores the lives of the undocumented–and the mysteries of her own life. She finds the nation of singular, effervescent characters often reduced in the media to political pawns or nameless laborers. The stories she tells are not deferential or naively inspirational but show the love, magic, heartbreak, insanity, and vulgarity that infuse the day-to-day lives of her subjects.

In New York, we meet the undocumented workers who were recruited into the federally funded Ground Zero cleanup after 9/11. In Miami, we enter the ubiquitous botanicas, which offer medicinal herbs and potions to those whose status blocks them from any other healthcare options. In Flint, Michigan, we learn of demands for state ID in order to receive life-saving clean water. In Connecticut, Cornejo Villavicencio, childless by choice, finds family in two teenage girls whose father is in sanctuary. And through it all we see the author grappling with the biggest questions of love, duty, family, and survival.

In her incandescent, relentlessly probing voice, Cornejo Villavicencio combines sensitive reporting and powerful personal narratives to bring to light remarkable stories of resilience, madness, and death. Through these stories we come to understand what it truly means to be a stray. An expendable. A hero. An American.

Why did I choose to read this book

Earlier this year I read American Dirt (fiction book, not written by an own voices author) and I made it a goal for myself to seek out Own voices books about immigration. When I read the synopsis of this book I knew I had to read it.

Rating

Read NOW! (Check out my Non-Fiction rating system)

My Thoughts

This book is about the author’s journey to different parts of the US and her documentation of the people she met as well as part of her family’s story. Some of the events covered are The World Trade Center at 9/11, the Flint water crisis, Hurricane Sandy and how these events impacted the lives of undocumented immigrants. These are the stories we don’t see in the news.

I think it is so important to read about the day to day lives of undocumented immigrants in the US in order to begin to understand what they go through. The author doesn’t just want us to passively read her words. She wants us to think and be uncomfortable. That is what makes this book so powerful.

I listened to the audiobook version of the book which is narrated by the author. This book is part memoir and I enjoy listening to audiobooks narrated by the authors. You can feel the pain an anger in her voice as you listen to it and it made it a powerful experience.

After I read the book I listened to the podcast Code Switch which had an interview with the author. I definitely recommend checking out the podcast if you read the book.

Impactful Quotes

“What I saw in Flint was a microcosm of the way the government treats the undocumented everywhere, making the conditions in this country as deadly and toxic and inhumane as possible so that we will self-deport. What I saw in Flint was what I had seen everywhere else, what I had felt in my own poisoned blood and bones. Being killed softly, silently, and with impunity.”

“The twisted inversion that many children of immigrants know is that, at some point, your parents become your children, and your own personal American dream becomes making sure they age and die with dignity in a country that has never wanted them.”

Who I recommend this book to

Everyone! I think this is a book everyone should read. If you enjoy non-fiction books you should pick this up! If you are interested in learning more about immigrants in America you should pick this up!

Get the book!

Did I convince you to read this book? You can get The Undocumented Americans from Bookshop.org here. Please consider ordering it from a Black owned independent bookstore. This list of Black owned independent bookstores accepts online ordering.