I confess, I know nothing about the life of an undocumented immigrant. Nothing I haven't learned from talking points, that is. Nothing real, nothing true. But this, the story of N's first attempt at crossing the border to losing his job seventeen years later was eye-opening. It covers things such as losing his facility with Spanish while becoming better at English, his desire for an education and how he realizes (just like the rest of us Americans) that a degree really only means debt and not a job, his isolation from both his Mexican undocumented friends and his American citizen friends, and, finally, his search for an identity. The last, especially, surprised me, and maybe it shouldn't have. After all, he's caught between assimilation and alienation, and he fears he'll be caught there forever.

(Provided by publisher) ( )

I've been waiting for a book like this for a very long time. I is a very very accurate representation of what life is like in the United States as an undocumented individual. It must of taken a lot of courage to want to write this and to do so. I have an enormous desire to thank the author and I only wish it would be available in more languages so that more people could get a chance to hear his story. I wish my mother could read it but like his mother, mine only speaks Spanish. He is a prime example of why we should work harder to fix the system. So many minds lost. So many minds of young undocumented individuals who give up half way because of advice from well intended family members/friends. ( )

"There is a sparseness to his writing that renders the tension of being neither there nor here, the isolation of the in between"
read more: http://likeiamfeasting.blogspot.gr/2014/05/illegal-jose-angel-n.html ( )

What it’s like with no documentation

Illegal: Reflections of an Undocumented Immigrant by José Ángel N. (University of Illinois Press, $19.95).

We’ve been talking about immigration in the U.S. for a long time; the big difference now is that we’re finally starting to hear from undocumented immigrants who would formerly have kept silent in fear of deportation. Many of the young “dreamers,” undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. by their parents as children, aren’t willing to remain silent—journalist José Antonio Vargas is an example of this mindset.

This memoir of an American in all but paperwork, José Ángel N., isn’t quite the story of a “dreamer,” mostly because he arrived here as a young man in 1990 by way of a makeshift tunnel on the border with San Diego. N. migrated to Chicago, where he spends close to 10 years working at low-level jobs while educating himself—first a GED, then a bachelor’s degree, then graduate work.

He’s exactly the sort of aspiring, well-educated immigrant we should be welcoming with open arms.

But eventually, he loses a really good job because of a fake SSN. Now, he’s a full-time dad and home-maker, relying on his American-born wife and living in fear of deportation.

Of course, that fear isn’t new. What this slim volume makes clear is the stress that undocumented immigrants live with as a fact of life. All the things that require valid I.D. are out of his reach, from flying anywhere to simply buying a beer at a ballgame.

Illegal, which is part of the University of Illinois’ Latinos in Chicago and the Midwest series, could very well describe many of our neighbors. It’s an insight into what it means to live undocumented that reveals just how much work we have to do if we’re to harness the talents of people like N.

(Lit/Rant: http://litrant.tumblr.com/post/84007636360/what-its-like-with-no-documentation-i... ( )