Review 47: Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen

Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen by Jose Antonio Vargas
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is one person's tale of the experience of being an "illegal" immigrant. Jose Vargas came to the USA from the Philippines when he was 12, accompanied by someone he was told was his Uncle. Turns out it was a coyote and Vargas didn't know he had faked documents until he tried to get a driver's license when he was 16. From then on his life was changed, again.

Vargas became a reporter, a journalist, asking questions of why because that was part of who he became when his mom put him on that airplane alone; when his grandparents gave him fake documents and didn't tell him they were not real. Vargas has dealt with not having a true home where he is accepted nearly his entire life.

Vargas may not be a typical undocumented citizen but his story tells the truth about his life, and those of many others. The immigration policies of The United States may not make much sense to people who were brought over when they were too young to have a say in their lives. Our laws and polices do not help them out.

There's a lot in this book, the one thing that I came away with was how much this situation, which he did not choose, has affected his personality and life. If Vargas had legal documents when he went into the DMV that day to get his driver's permit, perhaps he would be an entirely different person. This is a fascinating look at a complicated issue.



I received a free copy of this book at a library conference. I was not required to write a review, but felt like it and, of course, the above opinions are my own.