Denise Holley

Why the Undocumented Belong to America Denise Holley

Rosa Robles Loreto was chasing the American dream. She believed that her hard work cleaning houses demonstrated the determination and initiative the United States wanted. But after a minor traffic incident she was ordered deported.



Rosa's situation isn't unique. Journalist Denise Holley explains how the United States has criminalized immigration, the very process that built this country. She shows how undocumented farmworkers employed in the orchards of Washington and the vineyards of California underpin our economy. Her book examines:

the impact of the 1965 act that ended national quotas but criminalized seasonal migration; the lives transformed by the 1986 amnesty law that allowed 2.7 million people to legalize their status but penalized employers who hired undocumented workers; the effects of the 1996 law that imposed a ten-year ban on reentry for immigrants who crossed the border illegally and stayed for more than a year; the ways churches, humanitarian groups, and immigrant communities are fighting prejudiced laws. Holley describes how our nation's arbitrary immigration policies shake up the lives of individuals trying to work and survive in the US. She makes a passionate, powerful case that undocumented immigrants are essential to our nation's economy and our future.