Underground America

Starred review from June 2, 2008
McSweeney's Voices of Witness series continues (following Voices of the Storm and Surviving Justice) with this collection of oral histories from undocumented immigrants, aka "illegal aliens": "We hear a lot about these people in the media... how they are responsible for crime... take our jobs... and refuse to speak English. But how often do we hear from them?" Culled from new interviews, the book's 24 subjects come from around the world (Mexico, China, South Africa, Colombia, Cameroon and others), each offering a vivid, personal, often wrenching and occasionally enraging first-person look into the immigrant experience, what editor and novelist Orner calls a "state of permanent anxiety." Roberto, for instance, details narrow brushes with government agents as well as the everyday dangers inherent to unregulated work: "Nectarines are covered in this dust that makes your skin itch... You wear gloves when you're picking them but, because of the sweat, your skin absorbs everything, right into the pores." Diana, from Peru, worked on Hurricane Katrina cleanup and reconstruction crews while living 20 or more to a house: "I still have spots on my legs... from the chemicals and insulation that came off the walls at those jobsites." Average news-watchers who think they have a grasp on the immigration debate may well find these stories, speaking for millions of invisible American residents, no less than revelatory.