The Undocumented Americans

By: Karla Cornejo Villavicencio

Narrated by: Karla Cornejo Villavicencio

NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST • One of the first undocumented immigrants to graduate from Harvard reveals the hidden lives of her fellow undocumented Americans in this deeply personal and groundbreaking portrait of a nation.

“Karla’s book sheds light on people’s personal experiences and allows their stories to be told and their voices to be heard.”—Selena Gomez

FINALIST FOR THE NBCC JOHN LEONARD AWARD • NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY THE LOS ANGELES TIMES, THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW, NPR, THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY, BOOK RIOT, LIBRARY JOURNAL, AND TIME

Writer Karla Cornejo Villavicencio was on DACA when she decided to write about being undocumented for the first time using her own name. It was right after the election of 2016, the day she realized the story she'd tried to steer clear of was the only one she wanted to tell. So she wrote her immigration lawyer's phone number on her hand in Sharpie and embarked on a trip across the country to tell the stories of her fellow undocumented immigrants—and to find the hidden key to her own.

Looking beyond the flashpoints of the border or the activism of the DREAMers, Cornejo Villavicencio explores the lives of the undocumented—and the mysteries of her own life. She finds the singular, effervescent characters across the nation often reduced in the media to political pawns or nameless laborers. The stories she tells are not deferential or naively inspirational but show the love, magic, heartbreak, insanity, and vulgarity that infuse the day-to-day lives of her subjects.

In New York, we meet the undocumented workers who were recruited into the federally funded Ground Zero cleanup after 9/11. In Miami, we enter the ubiquitous botanicas, which offer medicinal herbs and potions to those whose status blocks them from any other health-care options. In Flint, Michigan, we learn of demands for state ID in order to receive life-saving clean water. In Connecticut, Cornejo Villavicencio, childless by choice, finds family in two teenage girls whose father is in sanctuary. And through it all we see the author grappling with the biggest questions of love, duty, family, and survival.

In her incandescent, relentlessly probing voice, Karla Cornejo Villavicencio combines sensitive reporting and powerful personal narratives to bring to light remarkable stories of resilience, madness, and death. Through these stories we come to understand what it truly means to be a stray. An expendable. A hero. An American.

©2020 Karla Cornejo Villavicencio (P)2020 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“Punk and dazzling and remarkably human . . . like watching firecrackers go off.”—Jia Tolentino

“Brilliant, vivid, tender, furious.”—Louise Erdrich

“A scream and a song . . . a complex, human look at the fabric of this nation.”—Quiara Alegría Hudes

Raw, heartbreaking - we can do better by others

Karla Cornejo Villavicencio was featured on This American Life on NPR 04/10/2020, she read an excerpt of this gripping account of her life and it was absolutely heartbreaking and raw. It hurt my heart that someone right here in the USA, right this minute is being treated like garbage, less than. Its disgusting and we are not doing enough. This is not the ideal I was serving during my time in the military. We can do more. We must do more. No one is more entitled to this place than anyone else, all humans have the same birthright.

Beautiful and devastating

Everyone should read this book. It’s beautifully written, deeply haunting , and even funny at times. Highly recommend.

I loved every part of this book.

excellent book. what a wonderful experience.
I recommend this book to anyone . it's amazing.

Hit me to my core

Loved this book. It was tragic and funny. I enjoyed Karla's corky personality and felt her vulnerability.

Everyone should read this!

Such a powerful book. You cannot unsee the truth after reading it. The issues or rather stories in the book affects us all.

We all need to hear this…

By far, the most intimate, unfiltered reality told in words that are beautiful, gut wrenching and authentic. I am better equipped to understand and do the work that this book has called into action in my own life. Ignorance can only be bliss up to the point of the reveal. This book is a revelation. Thank you for sharing your gift, experience and research. We can not heal or begin to help what we do not know, please keep sharing.

poignant and impossible to forget

it all hit hard. incredible writing, powerful reflections. I took notes. you should too.

The real deal

Moving, inspiring, catalyzing. This book, it's story, emboldened my activist work on matters of immigration.

Outstanding work of nonfiction

I don't think I've ever read any nonfiction book as vulnerable and raw as this one. I highly recommend it.

Excellent Read

The writing in this book is phenomenal! I also love that it’s read by the author!