Summary

As Jose's journalistic ambitions grow, he has to take more risks, tell more lies, and break more laws in order to further his career. In one case, a job offer is rescinded when he cannot produce a Social Security card and admits his undocumented status. Paranoid that the recruiter will turn him in, he spends his savings to travel to Seattle and meet her in order to put a human face to his name and his story. The recruiter keeps his secret. Discouraged, Jose meets with an immigration lawyer but his only option is to return to the Philippines for ten years before trying to immigrate legally. Although he considers this option, one of his teenage mentors, Rich, tells him to "put this problem on a shelf" and "keep going," which he does (82). The following summer, Jose lands an internship at the...