Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen

by Jose Antonio Vargas

But this is not a book about the politics of immigration. This book—at its core—is not about immigration at all. This book is about homelessness, not in a traditional sense, but the unsettled, unmoored psychological state that undocumented immigrants like me find ourselves in. This book is about lying and being forced to lie to get by; about passing as an American and as a contributing citizen; about families, keeping them together and having to make new ones when you can’t. This book is about constantly hiding from the government and, in the process, hiding from ourselves. This book is about what it means to not have a home.

About “coming out,” which I’ve done twice in my life: it’s less about “coming out” and more about letting people in. I learned that you come out to let people in. The reality is, the closet doesn’t only hide you from strangers. The closet also hides you from the people you love.

Indescribable, the harm, all around.