al_jpacho 's review for:

Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen by Jose Antonio Vargas

4.0

challenging emotional informative reflective medium-paced

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This was an eye-opening read! I resonated with many of the themes José Antonio Vargas addressed, even though I haven’t experienced being undocumented myself. He offered a raw insight into the realities of immigration in the states, exposing the systemic barriers designed to keep undocumented immigrants stuck. 

I think his realisation near the end of the book stood out to me the most: 

"Sitting alone in that cell, I concluded that none of this was an accident. None of it. You know how politicians and the news media that cover them like to say that we have a 'broken immigration system'? Inside that cell I came to the conclusion that we do not have a broken immigration system. We don’t. […] This immigration system is set up to do exactly what it does."

I think he did a fantastic job at exploring the complexities of immigrant identities. He highlights how intersectionality impacts people differently based on privilege, race, and circumstance. I find it wild how his accounts are from recent years. It feels extremely relevant given today’s political climate, with Trump now in his second term and immigration remaining a heated topic of discourse.