Underground America Narratives of Undocumented Lives [Paperback]

Millions of undocumented immigrants live in the United States under constant threat of imprisonment or deportation. They survive underground, with little protection from exploitation by human smugglers, employers, or law enforcement.Underground Americapresents the remarkable oral histories of men and women struggling to carve out a life in the United States.

Among the narrators:

Farid, an Iranian-American business owner who employs a number of American citizens while he himself remains undocumented. A critic of the Iranian government, he fears for his safety if he is deported to his native country.

Diana, who along with thousands of other Latino workers helped rebuild the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina. After completing her work, she and many others were detained and imprisoned for not having proper documentation.

Liso, who was enticed to come to the United States as a religious missionary, but on arrival was forced into unpaid domestic labor.

“Bold and heartbreaking.”
—Miami SunPost

“In a time when history is told in cheap television reenactments, if at all, and personal tragedy is gobbled up in rapidly digestible magazine photos and reality shows, this project goes against the grain.”
—Guardian

“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.”
—Publisher’s Weekly(starred review)

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

“ThroughoutUnderground America, the mistreatment of illegal immigrants painfully echoes tlw