58 pages • 1-hour read
Catalina
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Background
Authorial Context: Karla Cornejo Villavicencio and The Undocumented Americans
Karla Cornejo Villavicencio is an Ecuadorian American writer known for her journalism that focuses on immigration, race, and culture. The semi-autobiographical Catalina is her first novel. Like Catalina Ituralde, Cornejo Villavicencio was born in Ecuador. Her parents migrated to the United States when she was still a baby and sent for her later when she was five years old. She grew up with her parents and little brother in Queens, New York. Cornejo Villavicencio was one of the first undocumented students to graduate from Harvard in 2011. In the fall of 2010, Congress was debating the DREAM Act, which would give undocumented young people an opportunity for legal status in the United States. Cornejo Villavicencio first received attention for an anonymous essay titled “DREAM Act I Summary’m an Illegal Immigrant at Harvard,” which was published on the website The Daily Beast. From this essay, she received a number of offers to write a memoir, which she declined, claiming that she was too young.
Cornejo Villavicencio published The Undocumented Americans in 2020, a work of creative nonfiction that is part journalism and part personal essay. The text includes interviews and insights into the lives of undocumented people across the United States, including Cornejo Villavicencio’s own family. The Undocumented Americans was celebrated for its personal, evocative storytelling and was short-listed for the National Book Award for Nonfiction. Cornejo Villavicencio’s writing has also appeared in publications such as The Atlantic, Elle, and The New York Times.
Social Context: DACA and Undocumented Youth in the United State
In Catalina, the title character is an undocumented young person who was brought to the United States as a young child. Individuals in a similar situation constitute a significant portion of undocumented immigrants in the United States and are sometimes referred to as “Dreamers.” Over the years, there have been several attempts to grant legal status to this demographic, who have often lived in the United States since early childhood and have little to no memories or connections to their home country. These individuals have started lives and careers, and many are parents to American citizen children.
In 2001, two senators introduced the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act, known as the “DREAM Act.” The DREAM Act proposed a pathway toward permanent residency and, ultimately, citizenship for undocumented young people who met a number of requirements. The Act was voted down and reintroduced several times but never passed. In 2012, President Barack Obama signed an executive order granting temporary work permits and relief from deportation to undocumented young people. The program is known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or “DACA.” Young people who qualify receive a social security number, work permit, and deportation deferral that must be renewed every two years. It does not include a pathway to citizenship. DACA has faced many challenges in court, and many call for a more permanent solution for the over 500,000 individuals who receive DACA benefits.
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