The Undocumented Americans

Latinx immigrants are a diverse group, even though popular culture in the United States does little to differentiate among them or to understand different global conditions that lead to immigration from various nations. For example, in the chapter about Miami, the author explains that many Haitians reside in Florida according to temporary policy that legalizes their stays after a major earthquake in Haiti in 2010, though that status could be revoked. Many Cubans are in Florida because of the “wet foot, dry foot” policy, “a revision of the Cuban Adjustment Act of 1966 […] which ordered that the American Coast Guard not intercept Cubans in the water midway between Cuba and the United States, but should anyone successfully arrive […] they could remain” (90). These two examples represent legal residence, but they demonstrate just some of the global conditions—natural disaster and political turmoil—that serve as push factors for immigration to the United States. They also exemplify different types of trauma and danger.

One of the many complexities that the author explores in the book is the limits of solidarity and mutual support among immigrants, despite the clear and constant examples of when these patterns do occur. There are several reasons for divides.