Synopsis/blurb.......
A day after José
Ángel N. first crossed the U.S. border from Mexico, he was caught and then
released onto the streets of Tijuana. Undeterred, N. crawled back through a
tunnel to San Diego, where he entered the United States forever. Illegal:
Reflections of an Undocumented Immigrant is his timely and compelling memoir of
building a new life in America. Authorial anonymity is required to protect this
life.
Arriving in the 1990s
with a ninth grade education, N. traveled to Chicago where he found access to
ESL classes and GED classes. He eventually attended college and graduate school
and became a professional translator.
Despite having a
well-paying job, N. was isolated by a lack of official legal documentation.
Travel concerns made big promotions out of reach. Vacation time was spent
hiding at home, pretending that he was on a long-planned trip. The simple act
of purchasing his girlfriend a beer at a Cubs baseball game caused
embarrassment and shame when N. couldn't produce a valid ID. A frustrating
contradiction, N. lived in a luxury high-rise condo but couldn't fully live the
American dream. He did, however, find solace in the one gift America gave
him–-his education.
Ultimately, N.’s is
the story of the triumph of education over adversity. In Illegal he debunks the
stereotype that undocumented immigrants are freeloaders without access to
education or opportunity for advancement. With bravery and honesty, N. details
the constraints, deceptions, and humiliations that characterize alien life
"amid the shadows."
José Ángel N. is an
undocumented immigrant. He lives and works in Chicago.
Trying to get back on track with my non-fiction reading,
which I try and use to educate myself on current affairs/politics my curiosity
was aroused by this recent addition on Net Galley.
As a UK resident, I’m not totally ignorant of the effects of
immigration on this small island I live on. It can be an emotive subject, often
stirred up by newspapers with a slant leaning towards the right. The recent
rise of the English Defence League and its origins in my old hometown of Luton,
where my mum still lives concerns me, but so does the rise of extremism in any
form anywhere.
Immigration in the US, though I don’t follow political
debate there that closely, is no doubt another hot topic, particularly around
election times. Candidates can promise to
do things pre-election to secure the Hispanic vote and then fail to implement
the promise when in office, Mr Obama.
I don’t have any answers myself, but I’m not in public
office. I can sympathise with the author’s plight as a “non-person”,
particularly in the efforts he has made to improve himself over the years
through education. He pays taxes, he contributes to society, but he has been
criminalised.
How much of America’s development and improvement over the
past hundred years or so, can be attributed to the positive benefits of
immigration? Why is immigration perceived as a threat and a drain?
An interesting fact that I was unaware
of............apparently Obama’s administration has been responsible for a far
higher number of deportations than the previous Republican regime. (I didn’t
make a note of any figures that may have been given.)
Perhaps, I shouldn’t be surprised by this, considering this liberal President feels it is appropriate to joke about drone
strikes. Strikes which kill hundreds of
innocents, including children, in addition to removing enemies of the state.
Hopefully Mr N.’s status resolves itself sometime soon.
3 from 5
Acquired from Net Galley website.
Col - This does sound like an interesting perspective on the whole problem of immigration. And it's a perspective we don't get often enough. Thanks
ReplyDeleteMargot thanks. I've had my enlightenment and my rant for November, so I'm back to fiction and forgetting life's ills for the rest of the month!
DeleteI have a non-fiction novel that I hope to read sometime next year, Between Silk and Cyanide: A Codemaker's War (1941 to 1945) by Leo Marks. I bought it after finishing The Spy Who Came In From the Cold and when I was looking for anything Cold War related. I admit publicly that non-fiction novels are few and far between in my reading.
ReplyDeleteI remember reading that about Obama's admin. Obama has a lot of firsts or mosts - most drone strikes, most deportations, most of any president to prosecute leakers and I'm sure the list could go on.
1 a month is my limit for non-fiction.
DeleteGovernment, politicians.........don't know why I still get angry, but I do.
I feel I should read more books like this, though they leave me confused, and not sure what the answers are. But like you, I tend to think immigration is not the greatest evil facing the world now, and that the results have been very positive in the past. My family were immigrants to England 90 years ago, and other members of the family went to the USA - all did all right, and both benefitted from and contributed to their new countries.
ReplyDeleteNo easy answers to any issue really.
DeleteSounds like an interesting book, and definitely from a point of view that is different from the norm. Or what we think is the norm. I haven't done well with non-fiction lately. I am reading a nearly 700 page book about Britain during WWII, and don't know if I will finish it before the end of the year.
ReplyDeleteTracy - 700 pages? I thought you didn't get on too well with long books. Sometimes you have to persevere!
DeleteI don't (get along with long books). But this is divided into chapters that are not that long so should be like a series of articles. And each is very interesting. Nevertheless, non-fiction just doesn't entertain like fiction.
DeleteI've just finished something at over 1000! It was short stories, so I had to read it a piece at a time, too overwhelming otherwise. I'm done now and it feels like a weight has been lifted, though it was enjoyable.
DeleteCol, you make some interesting points about immigration and its benefit. Successive US governments have acknowledged the contribution to American society by Hispanics, Indians, and Chinese, many of whom are now employed in various branches of the government both federal and state. Immigration will always remain a politically sensitive issue.
ReplyDeletePrashant thanks. There's no easy answers and certainly nothing any one politician can do will please everyone.
Delete