Skip to content
You are not logged in |Login  
     
Limit search to available items
Book Cover
Bestseller
BestsellerE-Book
Author Navejas, José Ángel.

Title Illegal : reflections of an undocumented immigrant / José Ángel N.

Publication Info. Urbana : University of Illinois Press, 2014.

Copies

Location Call No. Status
 Rocky Hill - Downloadable Materials  EBSCO Ebook    Downloadable
Rocky Hill cardholders click here to access this title from EBSCO
Description 1 online resource.
Series Latinos in Chicago and Midwest
Latinos in Chicago and Midwest.
Summary "A day after 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 9th 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." "-- Provided by publisher.
Note Description based on print version record.
Subject BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Literary.
Navejas, José Ángel.
BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Personal Memoirs.
SOCIAL SCIENCE / Discrimination & Race Relations
Noncitizens -- Illinois -- Chicago -- Biography.
Genre/Form Electronic books.
Subject United States -- Emigration and immigration -- Social aspects.
BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Social Scientists & Psychologists
Mexicans -- Illinois -- Chicago -- Biography.
SOCIAL SCIENCE / Minority Studies
Local Subject Undocumented immigration -- Illinois -- Chicago -- Biography.
Subject BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Cultural Heritage.
Illegal immigration -- Illinois -- Chicago -- Biography.
Other Form: Print version: N., José Ángel. Illegal 9780252038310 (DLC) 2013032194 (OCoLC)861676504
ISBN 9780252096181 (electronic bk.)
0252096185 (electronic bk.)
1306407079 (electronic bk.)
9781306407076 (electronic bk.)
-->
Add a Review