Customer Reviews

Diary of an Undocumented Immigrant

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I read this book years ago, and it is one of those books that stayed in my head. Tinguis Perez writes in simple, direct prose about some harsh situations in the US, the types of situations undocumented immigrants encounter routinely but that few US citizens will encounter at all in the ordinary routine of life. He understates everything, never sensationalizes, and the result is extraordinarily powerful and human.

Libraries are now full of statistical and sociological reports on undocumented or illegal Mexican immigrants in the U.S. This book presents what I believe in the only account in print from the personal experience of one such immigrant. It tells of his crossing the border, his apprehension by the Border Patrol, of a subsequent successful entry, and of the more than two years that Mr. Perez spent in Texas, California and Washington, living with others in his status, trying to catch the American Dream.