The making of a dream : how a group of young undocumented immigrants helped change what it means to be American /

The making of a dream : how a group of young undocumented immigrants helped change what it means to be American /
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Bibliographic Details
Author / Creator:Wides-Muñoz, Laura, author.
Edition:First edition.
Imprint:[New York, NY] : Harper, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, [2018]
©2018
�2018
Description:xiv, 359 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
Language:English
Subject:Illegal aliens -- United States.
Illegal aliens -- Government policy -- United States.
Illegal alien children -- United States.
Illegal alien children -- Government policy -- United States.
Emigration and immigration law -- United States.
POLITICAL SCIENCE / American Government.
POLITICAL SCIENCE / Civics & Citizenship.
SOCIAL SCIENCE / Emigration & Immigration.
Immigration law -- United States.
Illegal aliens -- United States.
Illegal aliens -- Government policy -- United States.
Children of immigrants.
Illegal aliens -- United States.
Illegal aliens -- Government policy -- United States.
Illegal alien children -- United States.
Illegal alien children -- Government policy -- United States.
Immigration law -- United States.
Emigration and immigration -- Government policy.
Emigration and immigration law.
Illegal alien children.
Illegal aliens.
Illegal aliens -- Government policy.
United States -- Emigration and immigration -- Government policy.
United States -- Immigration and emigration -- Government policy.
United States -- Immigration and emigration -- Government policy.
United States.
Format: Print Book
URL for this record:http://pi.lib.uchicago.edu/1001/cat/bib/11456127
Hidden Bibliographic Details
Varying Form of Title:How a group of young undocumented immigrants helped change what it means to be American
ISBN:9780062560124
0062560123
Notes:Includes bibliographical references (pages 331-342) and index.
Text in English.
Summary:"A timely and powerful chronicle of a generation's great civil rights battle as witnessed through the experiences of five young undocumented immigrants fighting to become Americans. We often call them DREAMers: young people who were brought or sent to the United States as children. They attend our local schools; work jobs that contribute to our economy. Some apply to attend university here, only to discover their immigration status when the time comes to fill out the paperwork. Without a clear path forward, and no place to return to, these young people have fought for decades to remain in the one place they call home--a nation increasingly divided over whether they should be allowed to stay. The Making of a Dream begins at the turn of the millennium, as the first of a series of "DREAM Act" proposals is introduced, and follows the efforts of policy makers, advocates, and five very different undocumented immigrant leaders to achieve some legislative reform--or at least some temporary protection. Their coming-of-age-in-America stories of love and loss intersect with the watershed political and economic events of the last two decades, including the Obama administration's landmark Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) order in 2012, and the abrupt announcement by President Trump of his plan to end it, throwing into turmoil the lives of nearly 800,000 immigrants and their families. The Making of a Dream charts the course of a social movement, with all its failures and successes, and allows us an intimate, very human view of the complexity of immigration in America. Heartbreaking and hopeful, maddening and uplifting, this ode to the legacy of the DREAM Act is a record of our times--and the definitive story of the young people of our nation who want nothing more than to be a part of it."--Dust jacket.
Review by New York Times Review

on JAN. l, 2010, four student activists began a 1,500-mile walk from Miami to Washington, D.C. They wore white Nikes and, later, white T-shirts that said "Undocumented." They chose the start of a new decade for their walk because it seemed auspicious. Exhausted by years of lobbying for immigration reform that never came to pass and a Dream Act that never materialized, the friends wanted to stage a protest. When they got to Washington, they hoped to persuade President Obama to address their predicament, one shared by hundreds of thousands of young people. That quandary, aptly summarized by the veteran journalist Laura Wides-Muñoz in "The Making of a Dream: How a Group of Young Undocumented Immigrants Helped Change What It Means to Be American," was this: They were "kids raised in a country whose language and culture they identified with, whose Pledge of Allegiance they recited every morning in school - and yet a country that sought to render them akin to ghosts the moment they became adults, making it impossible for most to seek a college education, work legally or have any official say in the political system." Consigning young immigrants to illegitimacy makes no sense, Wides-Muñoz points out, because taxpayers investabout$130,000 to educate a given student, and can only recoup that investment when students go on to work legally and pay taxes themselves. "The Making of a Dream" is a sweeping chronicle of the immigrant rights movement in which the four walkers took part. The teenagers profiled by Wides-Muñoz refused to accept their parents' ghostlike status, and instead evolved into some of the most politically engaged student leaders in the nation. Wides-Muñoz casts their fight as the latest chapter in the civil rights movement; as they planned their march, the Latino students from Miami read Martin Luther King Jr.'s "Letter Prom Birmingham Jail," and selected a route that allowed them to visit important sites from the civil rights era. The young Dreamers wrestled with one question in particular: What should they ask of Barack Obama? Initially, the country's first biracial president had signaled that he wanted to pass comprehensive reform, but then Wall Street melted down. After that, Obama became consumed by the raucous debate over health care. It had been thus for years. Early in George W. Bush's presidency, the proposed legislation known as the Dream Act, which would have granted a path to citizenship to children who had been brought into the country without legal permission through no fault of their own, received promising support from key leaders like Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois. But its first big hearing in Congress was slated for Sept. 12, 2001. After 9/11, the Dream Act sputtered, and Congress instead passed the Patriot Act, allocating more technology and personnel to domestic security, including surveillance along the borders. Yet the Dreamers kept fighting. WidesMuñoz expertly describes the broader reform movement, through vivid thumbnail portraits of key students. The walk to Washington by the four activists provides one of the more dramatic sections of her narrative. The students believed Obama might sympathize with them because he had a Kenyan father. But they knew comprehensive reform would be a tough sell. At the same time, asking for passage of the Dream Act felt like a betrayal of the family members who had sacrificed so much on their behalf. The Dreamers did not want to choose between saving their parents and saving themselves. One of the walkers, Gaby Pacheco, had an idea: Instead of picking between competing solutions, one that would grant a path to citizenship to minors only, the other that would grant it to every undocumented immigrant regardless of age, why not ask for "deferred action" for all Dreamers - in other words, a guarantee that law-abiding students would not be targeted for deportation. Then they could continue to support both comprehensive reform and the Dream Act. Gaby and a friend hatched the idea after getting to know Marie Gonzalez, a Missouri student who had been allowed to remain in the United States even after her undocumented status was publicly revealed. Marie's father had overstayed a visa, and wound up on the evening news because he worked for the state governor. After Marie began blogging about the family's ordeal, federal officials deferred her deportation because she had not broken laws of her own volition (though they deported her parents). The four students from Miami envisioned making deferred action available to all who shared Marie's circumstances. And that was what they asked for when they finally made it to Washington: deferred action for childhood arrivals, or DACA, as the program eventually became known. Wides-Muñoz covered immigration for The Associated Press, and she capably depicts how the Dreamer movement grew out of two decades' worth of political activity by students, attorneys, politicians and grass-roots advisers, all of whom helped make DACA a reality. That program, which went into effect in 2012, transformed the lives of hundreds of thousands of undocumented students by granting them temporary permission to remain in the country and to work legally, even though it offered them no path to citizenship. It is deeply ironic that a book about the achievements of these student activists must conclude with the election of Donald J. Trump, who campaigned on the idea of ending DACA entirely. While Trump has since expressed sympathy for Dreamers, one of his first actions as president was to appoint as his attorney general Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama. Sessions appears throughout Wides-Muñoz's saga as one of the primary critics of the immigrant rights movement, a figure who blocked any attempt at comprehensive reform and every iteration of the Dream Act. Even as Trump vacillates, it seems likely that his administration will take a hard stance against immigrants who lack legal status, and the tenuous victory for belonging that the student activists worked so hard to achieve is likely to unravel. The only real solution to structural illegitimacy that will adequately protect these immigrants is comprehensive reform with a path to citizenship. Lor that to pass Congress, however, these brave kids and their allies will have to take up the fight once more. Wides-Muñoz reminds us that thanks to the ability of young people to dream, what seems impossible today may yet prove achievable tomorrow. ? HELEN THORPE is the author of "Just Like Us," a book about undocumented students from Mexico growing up in America, and "The Newcomers," which follows a class of refugee students from around the globe as they resettle in the United States.

Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [April 8, 2018]
Review by Booklist Review

Award-winning journalist Wides-Muñoz's essential primer on the DREAM Act exposes the toll the U.S.'s broken immigration system takes on real people. As this legislation remains in hostage to political paralysis on Capitol Hill, the lives of undocumented young people brought to the U.S. as children, the so-called DREAMers, are left suspended in excruciating limbo. Wides-Muñoz weaves the experiences and life stories of a handful of these exceptional young people into her informative account of the tortuously frustrating and heartbreaking attempts at achieving immigration reform in the twenty-first century. Besides the DREAMers and their families, her well-developed cast of characters includes key legislators, young immigration activists, advocates, and organizations. Wides-Muñoz's sometimes-wonky prose can intermittently belie the passionate story she tells, yet this is a valuable and detailed look at lawmaking and policy that affect people and communities across the nation and around the world as well as portraits of heroic youth willing to put their own status in jeopardy to advocate for fair treatment, not only for themselves and their families but for all immigrants.--Martinez, Sara Copyright 2018 Booklist

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

Journalist Wides-Muñoz movingly traces the 12 years of attempted legislation and political activism that culminated in the DREAM Act, focusing on the remarkable, and remarkably common, stories of several youths affected by its central feature: a path toward permanent citizenship for people brought illegally to the U.S. as children. During the decade-long fight, her subjects grew up, went off to college, got married, and had children, watching and protesting as the legislation started and stalled. They organized a 1,500-mile walk to raise awareness for their cause, orchestrated lengthy sit-ins, and pushed President Obama to deliver on his campaign promises. The injustices Wides-Muñoz details are wrenching: an undocumented immigrant worried that calling an ambulance in a medical emergency would result in deportation; a daughter could not visit her father in an immigrant detention center lest she too be investigated; a mother was pulled over in a routine traffic stop and deportation proceedings were begun immediately. But there are uplifting moments as well, particularly in Brazilian-born Felipe Sousa's journey, as he struggled to accept that he was gay before finding a partner in the immigration reform movement. With the DREAM Act's fate currently uncertain, this is a timely look at a contentious issue. (Feb.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.


Review by Library Journal Review

Journalist Wides-Muñoz tells of the plight of DREAMers, undocumented immigrants who came to the United States as minors. Through no fault of their own, and often without their knowledge, they became undocumented American children who lived under the radar until they realized that they couldn't apply for driver's licenses, work permits, or college. She follows five activist DREAMers who risked coming out of the shadows, emboldened by both hope and disillusionment, to speak out about the status of the DREAM Act (introduced in 2001), and later, DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals). Each individual's moving story is interwoven with the history of the controversial and political DREAM Act, which could place them on the path to citizenship. Despite personal and family difficulties and the constant threat of detention and deportation to unfamiliar native countries, they have organized, mobilized, lobbied, built coalitions, and resorted to bold tactics to raise awareness and gain allies. Meanwhile, they hope for comprehensive immigration reform to improve the lives of all immigrants. VERDICT This inspiring, well-written, well-documented account is an important read for Americans on all sides of this lingering issue.-Margaret Kappanadze, Elmira Coll. Lib., NY © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by School Library Journal Review

Wides-Muñoz follows the personal accounts of a handful of undocumented young people, tracing their arrival in the United States, their school years, and how and why they turned to activism for immigration rights. A longtime AP reporter, she offers a deep but engaging history of recent immigration issues and policy-both within the immigration rights movement and the halls of power in Washington, DC. Touching on the changes to immigration law while Ronald Reagan was in office, the narrative moves to the beginnings of the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act. First proposed during George W. Bush's administration, the bill would have granted residency to certain undocumented immigrants who came to the United States as minors, but political priorities changed after September 11. The bulk of the volume covers immigration issues under Barack Obama-the resurrection of the DREAM Act and the protest tactics and legislative goals of different immigrant rights groups. The final chapter introduces some of the changes that occurred during the first year of Donald Trump's presidency. Of note, the author addresses issues that have gone unexplored in the national discourse, such as the emotional and physical toll of years of activism. She also discusses the guilt that many feel about Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, as it potentially grants young people legal status but leaves their parents unprotected. VERDICT A -compelling, -eye-opening work; recommended for all collections.-Jennifer Rothschild, Arlington County Public Libraries, VA © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review

An eye-opening exploration of the DREAM Act and those who have tried to find safe harbor in the United States under its aegis.Relating her often poignant narrative through tales of aspiring citizens such as a Bolivian immigrant who arrived as a child, remained illegally, and has since become a leading activist in immigration-related causes, Wides-Muoz, the vice president for special projects and editorial strategy at Fusion TV, examines changes in legislation and the national mood alike over the last 20 years. The DREAM Act, she writes, was the outgrowth of a George W. Bush-era series of legislative efforts to make it more difficult for so-called illegal aliens to find a path to legal permanent residence and even citizenship. The "Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act," born of an unlikely alliance between Sens. Dick Durbin and Orrin Hatch, recognized that children brought to this country illegally were not willful criminals and therefore not deserving of punishments such as being denied educational opportunities. The story is full of ironies: the postal worker who discovered anthrax in the mail had long overstayed a tourist visa, while "the second US casualty in the [Iraq] war turned out to be a young man from Guatemala who had crossed the California border illegally." After 9/11, writes Wides-Muoz, efforts to improve the status of DREAMers were put on the back burner. During the Obama administration, those efforts were halfhearted enough that Hispanic voters "sat out the 2010 election in greater numbers than white or black voters," to disastrous results for the Democrats in the face of the tea party onslaught that would go on to put Donald Trump, an avowed opponent of the act and of immigration, in the White House. Against that new tide of anti-immigrant sentiment, the book concludes, the DREAM Act may be doomed despite efforts in the Senate to initiate meaningful immigration reform.A well-crafted, timely contribution to the immigration debate. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
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