Who am I? A Person.

What?: In American political discourse, words like criminal, burden, and illegal are used to describe undocumented people. In Illegal, the author, Jose Angel N., describes what it was like on his journey to the United States and the new mysteries his life was going to bring every day while living in the United States. “I’ve become an intruder” (5), Jose says. This is a very strong term used in the American language to describe immigrants, regardless of their citizen status. Jose also declares himself and the people as the “invaders that we are” (5). The media uses these terms and creates space for moral ambivalence, which is where it starts and spreads like wildfire. Although most people in the United States are not being effected directly by undocumented immigrants, most feel they need to support statements that are being thrown around in different political discourses. “Professor Huntington is convinced that I am utterly ungrateful, disloyal, and unappreciative” (11). “He deems me a threat to American identity” (11). Professor Huntington was explaining that when the first immigrants came over, they wept with joy and were so excited to call themselves Americans, but pretty much dismissed Jose and his feelings because “of the mischief of having entered through the back door” (11). Later on, Jose feels a sort of “sense of oppression” (19) at his office with his coworkers. The laws that constrain Jose are linked to these words because he cannot live up to his full potential and only due to the fact that he doesn’t have a piece of paper that says “hey, we know you’re here”. These laws have inhibited his full potential to be a translator, his full potential to travel and discover new places in this country we call beautiful, and his full potential to be an upright citizen. And this is only because he doesn’t have one piece of paper. Sadly, in this country we call the melting pot, Jose says something that has possibly been the most oppressive statement in this book, “I became fully aware of my identity as an other” (73). Politically, “For Democrats I am an undesired burden, for Republicans a replaceable nuisance. In the conservative discourse, I am a trespasser and a criminal-in their speeches, an abyss of moral rectitude separates me from the law-abiding citizen” (94). No matter who he becomes or what he does in his life, he will always be seen as an undesired burden, a nuisance, a trespasser and a criminal. We are asked “how are the laws that constrain the author linked to these words?” The problem I see in this question is that it’s not the laws that are linked to these words, it’s the people who are interpreting the laws.

So what?: A law that connected the way people interacted and behaved around Jose was the Real ID Act. Although his social security number was fake, his ID was real. “Although the Real ID Act was aimed at cracking down on terrorists, its claws scratched me too. By then, many years after having arrived in the United States, I had climbed the ladder of success at the restaurant, I was then a waiter, and that was unacceptable for Congressman James Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin, the proponent of the law. It was reason enough to deem me with suspicion. He deemed me among those sowing havoc and terror” (12). It’s surprising that even having as much success as becoming a waiter from a dishwasher was suspicious to the Congressman. This Congressman assumed Jose was getting into trouble because of the fact that he’s interacting with people…and he’s not an American citizen. For some odd reason, the Congressman felt fear that Jose was going to do something bad and felt the need to out his suspicion out there. But then later, the first time Jose was pulled over by a police officer, he felt very proud because he would be able to show his driver’s license. Little did he know that that precious moment would become memorable for another reason. After patiently talking to Jose, Officer Grand gets a little impatient and asks, “Do you even speak English” (58)? Officer Grand was very patient with Jose, at first that is, but then he couldn’t understand what Jose was saying and the conversation went south.

Due to the Real ID Act, Jose’s social and economic mobility gradually got smaller and smaller. As he would describe it, “It’s gotten darker. Tighter. This action by Congress pushed me deeper into the shadows. So much so that I’ve been gradually disappearing” (13). However, Jose knew he had to somehow do something and find another way to remain the person he worked so hard to become. “Sensenbrenner might have obscured the skies, but he forgot to seal the sewers” (13). Now that was just a year or so after he graduated grad school. By the end of the book and Jose’s journey, which will still continue since he will always have new obstacles to overcome, he ends up having a wife, a daughter, and a house. He ended up getting the whole package that we call the American dream.

Now what?: With the recent executive order on immigration, Illegal is a very important book. Although the ban was on 7 Muslim countries, the idea behind it is what is important to look at. People see a threat from the people of these countries and decided to completely terrorize our country by delaying or completely banning a person from coming to the United States, regardless of their citizenship. Also, there was a temporary ban on refugees as well. We are starting an unnecessary war with people we don’t need to be fighting with, and only based on the main religion of the country. This book and Jose Angel N. is proof that not everyone comes into the United States seeking havoc. We are supposed to be a sanctuary country for those in need. Sometimes I feel like we think “America first” is the right way to think, but we also forget that we stole this land from our native people and that it wasn’t our land to begin with, and yet here we are, the melting pot country. This book has not changed the way I think about immigration policies. I still have the same thoughts I do when I started reading the book. However, what this book did change is the discourse that is heard typically in the news. I feel that it is very crucial for everyone in this country to read this book to understand that not everyone comes into this country looking to cause terror. Surprisingly, all of these current uproars are not due to undocumented people, it is because of the laws that our “leaders” have thought to be good for us. With that being said, I could not say if every undocumented person has a right to a path of citizenship. But, I can say that if the person has been living up to the standards of an American citizen, who are we to deny them their dream? So everyone needs to ask themselves, “Who am I?” And the only common answer between everyone in the world will be, “A person.”