With the current US administration’s work to fast-track unregulated deportations, along with their attempts to end birthright citizenship, we must remind ourselves that this country was formed by immigrants to create opportunities for them and has since been held up by the work of said immigrants. To highlight the narratives our government is trying to silence, here are five memoirs by undocumented immigrants.
The Book of Rosy: A Mother’s Story of Separation at the Border by Julie Schwietert Collazo and Rosayra Pablo Cruz
The Book of Rosy: A Mother’s Story of Separation at the Border by Julie Schwietert Collazo and Rosayra Pablo Cruz tells Cruz’s story of her journey to the United States with her two boys and what followed when they were separated and put into detention facilities.
Cruz’s story starts with her decision to move her boys away from the violence and chaos that constantly plagued their lives. Through a brutal journey that left them starving, dehydrated, and in a state of utter exhaustion, Cruz successfully brought her boys to Arizona. This became just the start of her agonizing journey, as they were immediately detained and forcibly separated by the Department of Homeland Security. Collazo, the founder of Immigrant Families Together, helps reveal the realities of Cruz’s experience, along with the cruelty that goes on in detention centers.
Beautiful Country by Qian Julie Wang
Beautiful Country by Qian Julie Wang tells her story of growing up undocumented in 1994 New York City and the struggles her family faced to keep their secrets and new life.
Moving from China to the US, Wang’s parents went from being professors to sweatshop workers in Chinatown so they could offer Wang a better life. Living in poverty with limited English, Wang found herself making the best of her situation by spending her time in the library mastering the English language, and finding beauty in the small moments. When her Ma Ma reveals a serious illness that has been plaguing her, every aspect of Wang’s life is turned upside down as the secret of their legality in America becomes the danger that may take her family away.
The Undocumented Americans by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio
The Undocumented Americans by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio tells her own story and the stories of others to highlight the multiple real experiences of everyday working-class citizens in the US.
Villavicencio found the courage to tell her story using her real name in 2016, right after the election, when she was on DACA. She explores the multitude of US events that undocumented workers have been part of, including the 9/11 cleanup and the denied health services in Flint, Michigan, due to demands for state IDs. Her narratives and thoughtful reporting disclose remarkable stories about what it is like to hide and fight to live as an American.
Someone Like Me: How One Undocumented Girl Fought for Her American Dream by Julissa Arce
Someone Like Me: How One Undocumented Girl Fought for Her American Dream by Julissa Arce tells her story of growing up as an undocumented immigrant child to becoming a social justice advocate and bestselling author.
Arce spent the beginning part of her childhood in Taxco, Mexico, as her parents left her and her two sisters with a nanny and their grandmother for months at a time so they could work relentlessly in the US to build their family a better life. When her parents moved Julissa to Texas to live with them, she lived her life in secret as an undocumented immigrant. Arce became an honors college graduate, a vice president at Goldman Sachs, and a national bestselling author. Her story is particularly inspiring for the younger generations currently living in fear of what their status means for them and their families.
Americanized: Rebel Without a Green Card by Sara Saedi
Americanized: Rebel Without a Green Card by Sara Saedi tells her story of growing up as a teenager while being an undocumented immigrant.
Saedi goes into the realistic struggles of growing up as a teenager in the ’90s. Delving into wanting a boyfriend to take her to prom, dreaming of clear skin, and being able to afford a car, she also struggles with the notion that she could be deported at any time after finding out she was an undocumented immigrant. She adds hilarity and truth to her piece as she goes into the depths of what it meant for her to grow up as an Iranian-American teenager in the US after her parents fled Iran and built a life for her and her sister, while also dealing with average teenage problems of puberty and high school drama.
Immigrants come to America for a variety of different reasons, whether it is for their family, their work, themselves, or the dozens of other influences that impact their lives. But none of these reasons matter when it comes to their right to the opportunity to build a better life for themselves and the people they love. Understanding their stories and the treatment they endure from the American government and their home countries will give us better knowledge of the realities of the people around us and how we can help them when they need us.
Want to find more memoirs? Click here.
Do you need some recommendations for your next read? Check out our Hispanic/Latinx Recommendations: Bedtime Stories, Poetry, and Novels bookshelf on Bookshop.org.
