Description
An undocumented activist and a social scientist come together to tally of the structural costs of undocumented life
An inhumane math pervades this country: even as our government extracts labor and often taxes from undocumented workers, it excludes these same workers from its social safety net. As a result, these essential workers struggle to get their own basic needs met, from healthcare to education, from freedom of association to the ability to drive to work without looking for ICE in the rearview mirror.
When Alix Dick's family found themselves in the crosshairs of cartel violence in Sinaloa, Mexico, she and her siblings were forced to flee to the U.S. Many of the scenes that she shares are difficult and unforgettable: escaping from a relationship in which her partner threatened to report her to immigration; getting root canals done in an underground dental clinic. But there are moments of triumph, too: founding her own nonprofit; working on films that tell important stories; and working with her co-author Dr. Garcia to tell her story in a framework that lays bare the realities of structural oppression.
As Alix and Antero tally the costs of undocumented life, they present a final bill of what is owed to the immigrant community. In this way, their book flips the traditional narrative about the economics of immigration on its head.
Table of Contents
A Note on Our Research Process
INTRODUCTION
The Balance
CHAPTER 1
The Cost of Time
CHAPTER 2
The Cost of Being Mexicana
CHAPTER 3
The Cost of Living in a Cartel War
CHAPTER 4
The Cost of Border Crossing
CHAPTER 5
The Cost of Employment
CHAPTER 6
The Cost of Love
CHAPTER 7
The Cost of Faith
CHAPTER 8
The Cost of Mental Health
CHAPTER 9
The Cost of Healthcare
CHAPTER 10
The Cost of Dreaming
CONCLUSION
Reckoning with Inhumane Math
Acknowledgments
Notes
References
Index
