Peter Orner - Underground America: Narratives of Undocumented Lives (Voice of Witness)

Praise for UNDERGROUND AMERICA

Bold and heartbreaking. John Hood, Miami SunPost

Average news-watchers who think they have a grasp on the immigration debate may well find these stories, speaking for millions of invisible American residents, no less than revelatory. Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

The storytellers hold many different jobs, have different reasons for leaving home and different expectations about U.S. life. Decades after arriving, many want desperately to go home and cannot. Susan Salter Reynolds, Los Angeles Times

Throughout Underground America, the mistreatment of illegal immigrants painfully echoes this countrys shameful past of slavery. These immigrants are now an invisible force that has helped grow our economy and infrastructuretheyve built America, but have nothing to show for it. Holly Otterbein, Philadelphia City Paper

Underground America is an excellent introduction to an ongoing social disaster. It gives a face to people in the country who are one injury, one legal problem, away from ruin. Oscar Villalon, The California Report

This book is both archive and call to action, a document and a communiqu. These narratives complicate and trouble the mythologies around illegal immigrants; the combination of stark and sometimes brutal concrete description of lived experience and astute analysis on the part of the people recounting those experiences undermines the received notions that they are taking our jobs, or they are merely a drain on the system... Jen Hofer, CultureStrike

The editors have chosen these tales with an eye for human rights violations and abuse. But they have also found inspiring stories. John Freeman, Houston Chronicle

McSweeneys Voice of Witness Series is dedicated to illuminating human rights crises through oral history, and this new installment is an enlightening look at the plight of two dozen of the many people living here without legal documentation. You will be inspired to get out there and do something! Lisa Sharp, Nightbird Books, Fayetteville, Arkansas (Book Sense/Indie Notable Book)

Underground America does an excellent job of showing the human side of the underground world of millions people in the United States. Susanna Zaraysky, New America Media

UNDERGROUND AMERICA

VOICE OF WITNESS

McSWEENEYS BOOKS

SAN FRANCISCO

For more information about McSweeneys, see mcsweeneys.net

For more information about Voice of Witness, see voiceofwitness.org

Copyright 2008 McSweeneys

Cover photos by Theo Rigby

All rights reserved, including right of reproduction in whole or part in any form.

McSweeneys and colophon are registered trademarks of McSweeneys Publishing.

ISBN (E-book): 978-1-940450-94-0

EXPERT CONSULTATION AND ASSISTANCE FOR THIS BOOK

BANAFSHEH AKHLAGHI

National Legal Sanctuary for Community Advancement

CATHY ALBISA

National Economic and Social Rights Initiative

RADHIKA BALAKRISHNAN

Marymount Manhattan College

ELVIS CINTRA

Hispanic Interest and Services

VICKY CINTRA

Hispanic Interest and Services

DOUG FORD

University of Virginia, School of Law/Legal Aid Justice Center

TERESA FOSTER

Immigration Consultant

ADAM JEFFRIES

Farmworker Legal Services

SANDRA HERNANDEZ

Los Angeles Daily Journal

BROOKE HEWSON

American Immigration Lawyers Association

THOMAS KEENAN

Interdisciplinary Human Rights Project, Bard College

DAVID KRAUSE

Dominican University

SIN YEN LING

Asian Law Caucus

JOREN LYONS

Asian Law Caucus

RACHEL MEEROPOL

Center for Constitutional Rights

JAYKUMAR MENON

Centre for International Sustainable Development Law

LORENZO OROPEZA

Community Worker, California Rural Legal Assistance

NANCY PALANDATI

California Rural Legal Assistance

ROBERT PRESKILL

Corporate Law Group

CONSUELO SANDOVAL

United Methodist Mexican-American Ministries

RENEE SAUCEDO

La Raza Centro Legal

GREG SCHELL

Migrant Farmworker Justice Project

PAROMITA SHAH

National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild

PENNEY SCHWAB

United Methodist Mexican-American Ministries

JEP STREIT

Cathedral Church of Saint Paul

MATTHEW STRUGAR

Center for Constitutional Rights

DONALD STULL

University of Kansas

MATT THOMPKINS

Day Worker Center

FRED TSAO

Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights

LEE TUCKER

National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild

DEBORAH RAE TURNER

Dallas Morning News

CORRIN WILLIAMS

Community Economic Development Center of Southeastern Massachusetts

STEVEN WONG

Lin Ze Xu Foundation

SHELDON ZHANG

San Diego State University

CHRISTIAN ZLOLNISKI

University of Texas at Arlington

ADDITIONAL INTERVIEWERS: Anisse Gross, Will Pritikin, Stacey Tomkins, Andrew Touhy. TRANSCRIBERS: Justin Carder, Matt Carney, Jennifer King, Rachel Meresman, Jeff Porter, Selena Simmons-Dufin, Leanne Vanderbyl, Wyatt Williams, Miranda Yaver. TRANSLATORS: Polly Bresnik, Paulette Chow, Patsy Kng, Angie Kirk, Carmen Letona, Alberto Reyes Morgan, Miguel Trelles. PROOFREADERS: Elisa Bonesteel, John Farley, Drew Gilmour, Adam Krefman. COPY EDITOR: Georgia Cool. RESEARCH: Chris Benz, Alexandra Brown, Darren Franich. FACT CHECKER: Alex Carp. OTHER: Jordan Bass, Eli Horowitz. LEGAL ADVISOR: Doug Ford. DEVELOPMENT ADVISOR: Dantia MacDonald. MANAGING EDITOR: Chris Ying. FOUNDING EDITORS: Dave Eggers, Lola Vollen.

VOICE OF WITNESS

Voice of Witness is a non-profit organization that uses oral history to illuminate contemporary human rights crises in the U.S. and around the world. Its book series depicts these injustices through the oral histories of the men and women who experience them. The Voice of Witness Education Program brings these stories, and the issues they reflect, into high schools and impacted communities through oral history-based curricula and holistic educator support. Visit www.voiceofwitness.org for more information.

VOICE OF WITNESS BOARD OF DIRECTORS

MIMI LOK

Executive Director & Executive Editor, Voice of Witness

JILL STAUFFER

Assistant Professor of Philosophy; Director of Peace, Justice, and Human Rights Concentration, Haverford College

KRISTINE LEJA

Senior Development Director, Habitat for Humanity, Greater San Francisco

RAJASVINI BHANSALI

Executive Director, International Development Exchange (IDEX)

VOICE OF WITNESS FOUNDING ADVISORS