Undocumented: A Dominican Boy's Odyssey from a Homeless Shelter to the Ivy League

320 pages

Published Dec. 27, 2015 by Penguin Books.

ISBN:: 978-0-14-310933-4
OCLC Number:: 911044875

(1 review)

An undocumented immigrant’s journey from a New York City homeless shelter to the top of his Princeton class.

Dan-el Padilla Peralta has lived the American dream. As a boy, he arrived in the United States legally with his family. Together they had traveled from Santo Domingo to seek medical care for his mother. Soon the family’s visas lapsed, and Dan-el’s father eventually returned home. But Dan-el’s courageous mother decided to stay and make a better life for her bright sons in New York City.

Without papers, she faced tremendous obstacles. While Dan-el was only in grade school, the family joined the ranks of the city’s homeless. Dan-el, his mother, and brother lived in a downtown shelter where Dan-el’s only refuge was the meager library. At another shelter he met Jeff, a young volunteer from a wealthy family. Jeff was immediately struck by Dan-el’s passion for books and learning. With Jeff’s …

An undocumented immigrant’s journey from a New York City homeless shelter to the top of his Princeton class.

Dan-el Padilla Peralta has lived the American dream. As a boy, he arrived in the United States legally with his family. Together they had traveled from Santo Domingo to seek medical care for his mother. Soon the family’s visas lapsed, and Dan-el’s father eventually returned home. But Dan-el’s courageous mother decided to stay and make a better life for her bright sons in New York City.

Without papers, she faced tremendous obstacles. While Dan-el was only in grade school, the family joined the ranks of the city’s homeless. Dan-el, his mother, and brother lived in a downtown shelter where Dan-el’s only refuge was the meager library. At another shelter he met Jeff, a young volunteer from a wealthy family. Jeff was immediately struck by Dan-el’s passion for books and learning. With Jeff’s help, Dan-el was accepted on scholarship to Collegiate, the oldest private school in the country.

There, Dan-el thrived. Throughout his youth, Dan-el navigated two worlds: the rough streets of East Harlem, where he lived with his brother and his mother and tried to make friends, and the ultra-elite halls of a Manhattan private school, where he immersed himself in a world of books and rose to the top of his class.

From Collegiate, Dan-el went on to Princeton, where he made the momentous decision to come out as an undocumented student in a Wall Street Journal profile a few months before he gave the salutatorian’s traditional address in Latin at his commencement.

Undocumented is essential reading for the debate on immigration, but it is also an unforgettable tale of a passionate young scholar coming of age in two very different worlds.

1 edition

Pentapod reviewed Undocumented: A Dominican Boy's Odyssey from a Homeless Shelter to the Ivy League by Dan-el Padilla Peralta

Review of 'Undocumented' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Interesting biography written by an immigrant from the Dominican Republic who was brought to the US at the age of 4 and grew up in New York without even understanding what being an undocumented immigrant meant. His family's story isn't initially going to soften the heart of anyone vehemently opposed to illegal immigration, since his mother did deliberately stay here illegally and the welfare system supported them as Dan-el grew up. However, a little rational consideration of the situation should make it obvious that everyone from Dan-el to the US taxpayers would have been better off if the family had been able to legally immigrate. Instead of surviving (barely) on welfare, his well-educated mother would have been able to get a job and pay taxes. People talk about "the path to immigration" and "waiting in line" but there IS no line, and no path. The system is arbitrary, badly managed …

Interesting biography written by an immigrant from the Dominican Republic who was brought to the US at the age of 4 and grew up in New York without even understanding what being an undocumented immigrant meant. His family's story isn't initially going to soften the heart of anyone vehemently opposed to illegal immigration, since his mother did deliberately stay here illegally and the welfare system supported them as Dan-el grew up. However, a little rational consideration of the situation should make it obvious that everyone from Dan-el to the US taxpayers would have been better off if the family had been able to legally immigrate. Instead of surviving (barely) on welfare, his well-educated mother would have been able to get a job and pay taxes. People talk about "the path to immigration" and "waiting in line" but there IS no line, and no path. The system is arbitrary, badly managed and incentivized, and so convoluted it's practically indecipherable even to English speakers with law degrees, let alone foreigners whose English may not be perfect. Certainly Dan-el was in a situation completely not of his choosing and given no way to correct it -- not allowed to stay, but also not knowing any life other than the US, he only escapes through outstanding academic achievement which is certainly not something the average person will be able to achieve, immigrant or not. Overall an interesting story of an unusual life that highlights why laws like the DREAM act, and immigration overhaul in general, are very much needed.