Jose Antonio Vargas

In this young readers' adaptation of his adult memoir Dear America, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and undocumented immigrant Jose Antonio Vargas tells his story, in light of the 12 million undocumented immigrants currently in the United States. Jose Antonio Vargas was only twelve years old when he was brought to the United States from the Philippines to live with his grandparents. He didn't know it, but he was sent to the U. S. illegally. When he applied for a learner's permit, he learned the truth, and he spent the next almost twenty years keeping his immigration status a secret. Hiding in plain sight, he was writing for some of the most prestigious news organizations in the country. Only after publicly admitting his undocumented status--risking his career and personal safety--was Vargas able to live his truth. This book asks questions including, How do you define who is an American? How do we decide who gets to be a citizen? What happens to those who enter the U. S. without documentation? By telling his personal story and presenting facts without easy answers, Jose Antonio Vargas sheds light on an issue that couldn't be more relevant.

THE NATIONAL BESTSELLER“This riveting, courageous memoir ought to be mandatory reading for every American.” —Michelle Alexander, New York Times bestselling author of The New Jim Crow“l cried reading this book, realizing more fully what my parents endured.” —Amy Tan, New York Times bestselling author of The Joy Luck Club and Where the Past Begins“This book couldn’t be more timely and more necessary.” —Dave Eggers, New York Times bestselling author of What Is the What and The Monk of MokhaPulitzer-Prize winning journalist Jose Antonio Vargas, called “the most famous undocumented immigrant in America,” tackles one of the defining issues of our time in this explosive and deeply personal call to arms.“This is not a book about the politics of immigration. This book––at its core––is not about immigration at all. This book is about homelessness, not in a traditional sense, but in the unsettled, unmoored psychological state that undocumented immigrants like myself find ourselves in. This book is about lying and being forced to lie to get by; about passing as an American and as a contributing citizen; about families, keeping them together, and having to make new ones when you can’t. This book is about constantly hiding from the government and, in the process, hiding from ourselves. This book is about what it means to not have a home. After 25 years of living illegally in a country that does not consider me one of its own, this book is the closest thing I have to freedom.”—Jose Antonio Vargas, from Dear America

"Fascinante y valiente. Este libro de memorias debe ser lectura obligatoria para todos". --Michelle Alexander, autora de The New Jim Crow, bestseller de The New York Times." Llor leyendo este libro, comprend plenamente lo que mis padres tuvieron que aguantar". --Amy Tan, autora de Club de la Buena Estrella, bestseller de The New York Times"Este libro no puede ser m s relevante y necesario." --Dave Eggers, autor de El C rculoPeriodista Jose Antonio Vargas, el ganador del Premio Pulitzer conocido como "el inmigrante indocumentado m s famoso de los Estados Unidos," aborda una de las cuestiones que definen nuestro tiempo en esto libro explosiva y profundamente personal llamada a las armas. Natural de Filipinas, Vargas fue llevado ilegalmente a los Estados Unidos cuando ten a 12 a os. Durante m s de dos d cadas, vivi oculto de todos, logrando escribir para algunos de las publicaciones m s prestigiosas de EE. UU., como The Washington Post y The New Yorker. Pero en 2011, Vargas revel p blicamente su estatus de indocumentado, arriesgando su carrera y seguridad personal. Desde entonces, Vargas ha cuestionado la que significa de ser estadounidense y dedica su vida a dar voz a los inmigrantes y defender sus derechos, no solamente en EE. UU sino tambi n en el mundo entero. Querida Am rica: Notas de un ciudadano indocumentado no es un libro sobre la pol tica de inmigraci n. Es una defensa ntima y apasionada de ciudadan a y el sentido de pertenencia." Despu s de 25 a os viviendo ilegalmente en un pa s que no me consider uno de los suyos, este libro es lo m s cercano a libertad que tengo."--Jose Antonio Vargas, Querida Am rica

In this young readers' adaptation of his adult memoir Dear America, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and undocumented immigrant Jose Antonio Vargas tells his story, in light of the 12 million undocumented immigrants currently in the United States. Jose Antonio Vargas was only twelve years old when he was brought to the United States from the Philippines to live with his grandparents. He didn't know it, but he was sent to the U. S. illegally. When he applied for a learner's permit, he learned the truth, and he spent the next almost twenty years keeping his immigration status a secret. Hiding in plain sight, he was writing for some of the most prestigious news organizations in the country. Only after publicly admitting his undocumented status--risking his career and personal safety--was Vargas able to live his truth. This book asks questions including, How do you define who is an American? How do we decide who gets to be a citizen? What happens to those who enter the U. S. without documentation? By telling his personal story and presenting facts without easy answers, Jose Antonio Vargas sheds light on an issue that couldn't be more relevant.

THE NATIONAL BESTSELLER"This riveting, courageous memoir ought to be mandatory reading for every American." --Michelle Alexander, New York Times bestselling author of The New Jim Crow"l cried reading this book, realizing more fully what my parents endured." --Amy Tan, New York Times bestselling author of The Joy Luck Club and Where the Past Begins"This book couldn't be more timely and more necessary." --Dave Eggers, New York Times bestselling author of What Is the What and The Monk of MokhaPulitzer-Prize winning journalist Jose Antonio Vargas, called "the most famous undocumented immigrant in America," tackles one of the defining issues of our time in this explosive and deeply personal call to arms." This is not a book about the politics of immigration. This book--at its core--is not about immigration at all. This book is about homelessness, not in a traditional sense, but in the unsettled, unmoored psychological state that undocumented immigrants like myself find ourselves in. This book is about lying and being forced to lie to get by; about passing as an American and as a contributing citizen; about families, keeping them together, and having to make new ones when you can't. This book is about constantly hiding from the government and, in the process, hiding from ourselves. This book is about what it means to not have a home. After 25 years of living illegally in a country that does not consider me one of its own, this book is the closest thing I have to freedom."--Jose Antonio Vargas, from Dear America

"My world seems upside down. I have grown up but I feel like I'm moving backward. And I can't do anything about it." (Esperanza). Over two million of the nation's eleven million undocumented immigrants have lived in the United States since childhood. Due to a broken immigration system, they grow up to uncertain futures. In Lives in Limbo, Roberto G. Gonzales introduces us to two groups: the college-goers, like Ricardo, who had good grades and a strong network of community support that propelled him to college and Dream Act organizing but still landed in a factory job a few short years after graduation, and the early-exiters, like Gabriel, who failed to make meaningful connections in high school and started navigating dead-end jobs, immigration checkpoints, and a world narrowly circumscribed by legal limitations. This vivid ethnography explores why highly educated undocumented youth share similar work and life outcomes with their less-educated peers, despite the fact that higher education is touted as the path to integration and success in America. Mining the results of an extraordinary twelve-year study that followed 150 undocumented young adults in Los Angeles, Lives in Limbo exposes the failures of a system that integrates children into K-12 schools but ultimately denies them the rewards of their labor.

"My world seems upside down. I have grown up but I feel like I'm moving backward. And I can't do anything about it." (Esperanza). Over two million of the nation's eleven million undocumented immigrants have lived in the United States since childhood. Due to a broken immigration system, they grow up to uncertain futures. In Lives in Limbo, Roberto G. Gonzales introduces us to two groups: the college-goers, like Ricardo, who had good grades and a strong network of community support that propelled him to college and Dream Act organizing but still landed in a factory job a few short years after graduation, and the early-exiters, like Gabriel, who failed to make meaningful connections in high school and started navigating dead-end jobs, immigration checkpoints, and a world narrowly circumscribed by legal limitations. This vivid ethnography explores why highly educated undocumented youth share similar work and life outcomes with their less-educated peers, despite the fact that higher education is touted as the path to integration and success in America. Mining the results of an extraordinary twelve-year study that followed 150 undocumented young adults in Los Angeles, Lives in Limbo exposes the failures of a system that integrates children into K-12 schools but ultimately denies them the rewards of their labor.