Dreaming of Home: A Young Latina’s Journey to Pride, Power, and Belonging

Jiménez, cofounder and former executive director of United We Dream, the largest immigrant youth-led organization in the United States, shouts out for conscience and humanity. Opening with her and her family’s 1998 journey from an unsustainable life in Quito, Ecuador, to Queens, NY, her book describes the fear and shame of living undocumented in the U.S. Her story of struggle is one of discovery and determination. She discovers a community of others like her, everyday people walking on eggshells in the constant shadow of deportation and the restless eyes of racial profilers. Amid other undocumented youths and immigrant justice organizers, she’s determined to speak out with the power of collective action to change public attitudes and policy. A signal achievement was the 2012 Obama administration Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals initiative that reprieved from deportation qualifying unauthorized immigrants who entered the United States as children, as Jiménez did.