The United States is a country built on immigration, from its colonial inception to the days of Ellis Island. Our national identity owes much to immigrants, who often came abroad seeking better opportunities or asylum from political oppression. They brought with them the customs and traditions from their homelands, threads woven together over time to create a rich tapestry of cultures and experiences. Most Americans either immigrated to the US, are descended from immigrants, or know an immigrant personally.
With immigration, however, comes hostility and backlash. Recent months have seen a wave of executive orders targeting undocumented immigrants and stripping them of legal protections. Thousands face deportation, and many have been detained unlawfully.
Our Three to Read picks this week shed light on immigration in the US. Amid overwhelming statistics and news coverage, they place the names, faces, and stories of these communities front and center.
HOT PICK
Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here: The United States, Central America, and the Making of a Crisis by Jonathan Blitzer
Trigger warning: This book contains discussions of torture and violence. Please exercise caution while reading.
SUMMARY:
No one decides to uproot and risk their entire life without a reason. Journalist Jonathan Blitzer examines the complex reality of the Central American immigration crisis in thorough, devastating detail. Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here weaves the stories of individual migrants into a broader historical landscape of competing political dynamics. Blitzer provides readers a comprehensive overview of the many factors that drive migration and the ways US policymakers have exacerbated those issues over the past few decades.
WHY:
Blitzer contextualizes US immigration from Central America as the culmination of several decades’ worth of misguided policy and the ensuing ripple effects, from gang violence to political corruption. He does so without losing sight of the human lives at stake, skillfully balancing historical and political analysis with empathetic storytelling. Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here introduces readers to three migrants who fled dangerous situations in their home countries, at times unflinching in its accounts of their suffering. In many ways, Blitzer argues, the crisis at the border is one of our nation’s own making. Understanding how we got here is the first step to reform.
BEACH READ
Dreaming of Home: How We Turn Fear into Pride, Power, and Real Change by Cristina Jiménez
SUMMARY:
Amid growing political and economic instability in Ecuador, 13-year-old Cristina Jiménez immigrated to New York with her family in 1998. In her new home, she found community, but the fear of deportation still lurked in the background. When legislative changes enabled her to become the first in her family to attend college, Jiménez encountered the faculty and student activists who would change her life forever. Dreaming of Home tells the story of how Jiménez not only became an American but also an advocate for social justice.
WHY:
Jiménez is a co-founder of United We Dream, an immigrant youth–led advocacy group that has spent decades campaigning for immigration reform. Dreaming of Home underscores the personal nature of her work, introducing readers to a family who, despite their circumstances, is not too different from their own. Jiménez deals with larger anxieties around her legal status and rising xenophobia post-9/11 — but also smaller ones, like falling in love. Ultimately, her memoir is a call to action, a rallying cry that empowers us to work together toward a better, kinder world.
DARK HORSE
We Are Home: Becoming American in the 21st Century: An Oral History by Ray Suarez
SUMMARY:
Journalist Ray Suarez traveled the country to speak with immigrants from around the globe about their journeys. We Are Home collects their testimonials into an oral history that showcases their diverse array of experiences. In doing so, Suarez challenges the prevailing myth that romanticizes earlier waves of immigration while degrading newer immigrants. Whether they came from Asia, Africa, Europe, or Latin America, these migrants all believed in the potential for a better life.
WHY:
Spurred by increasingly vitriolic anti-immigrant rhetoric, Suarez has assembled a cast of narrators from all over the world, each with their own fascinating story of becoming American. Samir, who opens the book, arrives in the US as a young man but only feels like an American when he takes his kids to protest the 2017 Muslim ban. Jesus, a DACA recipient, becomes an EMT and helps Houston’s undocumented population through the pandemic. Despite the challenges they faced, Suarez’s interviewees do not regret their decision to immigrate. To quote Michigan congressman Shri Thanedar, “In no other place in the world is my story possible.”
That’s it for this week’s Three to Read! We’ll be back next week with more amazing recs for your TBR.
For more of our Three to Read picks, click here.
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