There's No Jose Here: Following the Hidden Lives of Mexican Immigrants

Mexican immigration has become one of the most polarizing issues of Bush's second term and will remain a central issue in the coming years. Where once Mexicans had a sizable presence in a few select states like California, Texas, Arizona, and New York, today the fastest growing populations are in places like North Carolina, Arkansas, Georgia, and Tennessee. Seemingly overnight, Americans across the country are finding their new neighbors to have names like Gonzalez, Paulino, Ramon, and Aguilar. What motivates people to risk their very lives and head north, and why don't Mexicans just "play by the rules" and enter legally? How do they cope, living in a strange country among people that speak a language they can't understand? There's No Jose Here follows the lives of Mexicans in the US and allows them to speak in their own words. Throughout, the central narrative follows the engaging figure of Enrique, a thirty-four-year-old livery cab driver who came to the US illegally at the age of sixteen and has since seen his daughter lead poisoned, his mother abandoned in Mexico by his father, his cousin murdered on the streets of Brooklyn, and his best friend deployed to Iraq. Thompson has crafted a behind-the-scenes look into the lives of immigrants we know little about. Going beyond the talk-show bluster, readers witness the harrowing, inspiring. depressing, and complicated stories as people struggle to survive in a new and often hostile land.