The making of a dream : how a group of young undocumented immigrants helped change what it means to be American / Laura Wides-Muñoz

Hardcover edition published 2018

Includes bibliographical references (pages 337-348) and index

Chapter 1: In the beginning -- Chapter 2: Seeds planted -- Chapter 3: A wake-up cry -- Chapter 4: Dark clouds lead to a trail -- Chapter 5: A trail of tears and dreams -- Chapter 6: Arrival and afterglow -- Chapter 7: A marriage, a death, and a vote -- Chapter 8: New paths -- Chapter 9: Mounting pressure -- Chapter 10: After DACA -- Chapter 11: The next battle -- Chapter 12: New alliances -- Chapter 13: Graduation -- Chapter 14: Here to stay

"A timely and powerful chronicle of a generation's great civil rights battle as witnessed through the experiences of five young undocumented immigrants fighting to become Americans. We often call them DREAMers: young people who were brought or sent to the United States as children. They attend our local schools; work jobs that contribute to our economy. Some apply to attend university here, only to discover their immigration status when the time comes to fill out the paperwork. Without a clear path forward, and no place to return to, these young people have fought for decades to remain in the one place they call home--a nation increasingly divided over whether they should be allowed to stay. The Making of a Dream begins at the turn of the millennium, as the first of a series of "DREAM Act" proposals is introduced, and follows the efforts of policy makers, advocates, and five very different undocumented immigrant leaders to achieve some legislative reform--or at least some temporary protection. Their coming-of-age-in-America stories of love and loss intersect with the watershed political and economic events of the last two decades, including the Obama administration's landmark Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) order in 2012, and the abrupt announcement by President Trump of his plan to end it, throwing into turmoil the lives of nearly 800,000 immigrants and their families. The Making of a Dream charts the course of a social movement, with all its failures and successes, and allows us an intimate, very human view of the complexity of immigration in America. Heartbreaking and hopeful, maddening and uplifting, this ode to the legacy of the DREAM Act is a record of our times--and the definitive story of the young people of our nation who want nothing more than to be a part of it."--Jacket