It is not surprising either that this article would appear only now, weeks after the controversy generated by Jeanine Cummins’ American Dirt. I am a husband, a parent, a published author, and, for over a quarter of a century, an expert in the ontological dilemma of undocumentedness. And this is just to say-I may lack legal status, but I have a full name, a particular history, a voice. Here: in Illegal, my memoir, I admit only to “N,” as in “nobody,” whereas it ought to be Navejas. What you may not know is that I also have a middle name, “Ángel,” and a last one which, out of fear of deportation, in recent years I have often been forced to omit. This is, after all, the triple filter through which American society sees (or unsees) most of us. I understand that none of this might surprise you, as my name may suggest my nationality and my nationality my (lack of) legal status.
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