A book "Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen" is written by Jose Antonio Jose, an undocumented immigrant and at the same time Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist in 2011. In the book, Jose describes his personal story of growing up in the Philippines and coming to the United States as a child at the age of 12 without legal documentation. He writes about how he constantly went through the complexities of hiding his status and maintaining a false identity in order to fit in and avoid detection.
Considering the topic raised in the book of 'What does it mean to be an American' and who is considered a citizen of the United States, first of all, the definition of what it means to be an American can be subjective and can depend on various factors such as culture, ideology, and political beliefs. It's up to us to decide what they believe it means to be an American and who should be allowed to become an American. Being an American is about more than just legal citizenship or birthplace, Jose argues. In his book, Jose wrote that being an American is about the shared values and ideals that make up the country's identity, such as freedom, equality, and opportunity. Jose questions the conventional idea that American identity is solely defined by legal citizenship, claiming that there is a more complex and nuanced concept that
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citizens. Yet, Jose and other undocumented immigrants confront formidable obstacles to acquiring legal status and citizenship, which puts them in a perilous position and prevents them from incorporating into American society or taking advantage of the protections and rights granted by citizens. As a result, many undocumented immigrants, including Jose, have had to rely on a combination of luck, hard work, and support from their communities to survive and thrive in the United