Another Kind of Journey

ONE OF THE HARDEST things about being an immigrant and advocate for immigrants is an unspoken assumption that immigrating for strictly economic reasons is not as worthy of admission (and compassion) as doing so to flee war or persecution. Historically, this made refugees the “good immigrants,” until the current administration began to stoke fear against them. I love that Sarah Quezada turns that idea on its head by sharing the story of her relationship and marriage to an undocumented immigrant who didn’t leave his country for anything other than more opportunities and, to some extent, adventure.

Quezada tells a story that is part memoir, part biblical reflection, and part policy and data. She relates how she fell in love with and married an undocumented immigrant, Billy. As they make their way through the maze of the U.S. immigration system, she learns what immigrants know through experience: Gaining legal status is a complex, expensive, and lengthy process. She also reminds readers that many immigrants don’t have options to gain legal status, which might shock those who instruct immigrants just to “get in line and wait.”

What makes the story compelling is Quezada’s own hospitable rhetoric; it is easy to identify with her as she acknowledges knowing next to nothing about immigration before she began dating Billy. In fact, she barely knew people different from herself prior to a move to an urban Los Angeles neighborhood. The gentle humility of her storytelling makes this a book you can recommend to Christians new to the immigration debate. They will learn and come to greater awareness, as Quezada herself does through her journey.

The subtitle of the book is Risking Trust in a Fearful World, and Quezada is effective in reminding readers that the default response for Christians when we face the uncertain and unknown should be trust in God. This includes the immigrant stranger who may look, speak, and worship differently from us. She finds her stride as she tells the story of her own growth in awareness, love of neighbor, and trust in God. The antidote to fear, Quezada says, is relationship with immigrants—these relationships will not only make us aware of the injustices of our current immigration system, but they will also fuel our zeal for justice.

In spite of these strengths, this book does have, in my opinion, an obvious weakness: Quezada tells stories that would be better told by immigrants themselves, namely her husband, Billy. He was witness to the labor trafficking of other undocumented immigrants and experienced wage theft and mistreatment in his workplace. While Quezada does a good job of describing these incidents, some power is lost because they weren’t her stories. It’s important for marginalized people to tell their own stories and dispel the myth that they are all voiceless and dependent on dominant culture intermediaries.

Even so, this is a book I recommend. In our current political moment, and as an immigrant, it blesses my soul immensely to see others stand up for the dignity and inclusion of all immigrants. Quezada emphasizes that while policy can be complicated, loving our neighbors is simple: “We open our arms to immigrants, documented or not, not on the basis of their purity or deservingness but because of Christ’s love for us in our undeservedness.”