Citizen Illegal

Citizen Illegal (2018) is the first poetry collection by José Olivarez, a first-generation Mexican American poet. The 47 free-verse poems in the collection explore a variety of themes based on Olivarez’s own life, especially the experience of Mexican immigrants to the United States. As a boy, Olivarez experienced shame because he was Mexican, coupled with an internalized pressure to assimilate to white American culture. Later, he strongly affirmed the Mexican side of his nature, although he also believes that the immigrant always falls between two cultures, each of which has some claim on him. Although his purpose is serious, Olivarez also frequently employs humor: Many of the poems express joy, optimism, and appreciation of life even as they examine social issues, including racism. 

This guide is based on the 2018 Haymarket Books edition. 

Poet Biography

When José Olivarez’s parents immigrated from Mexico to the United States in 1987, his mother was pregnant. They crossed the border hidden in the trunk of a car. José was born not long afterward, on February 14, 1988, in Calumet City, Illinois, a south suburb of Chicago, where he was raised. His father worked in a steel mill. In high school, Olivarez took part in a number of poetry workshops. American poets Krista Franklin, Avery R. Young, and Michael Haeflinger were among his mentors. He then attended Harvard University, where he majored in African and African American studies. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 2010. 

With poet Ben Alfaro, Olivarez co-authored the collection Home Court (2015); Olivarez wrote the title poem. He published his first solo collection of poems, Citizen Illegal, in 2018. It was a finalist for the PEN/Jean Stein Award and won the 2018 Chicago Review of Books Poetry Prize. In that same year, Olivarez was living in Harlem, New York City, where he wrote the poems that would appear in his second collection, Promises of Gold (2023). In 2020, Olivarez co-edited The Breakbeat Poets, Vol. 4. 

Olivarez has received fellowships from CantoMundo, Poets House, the Bronx Council on the Arts, and the Poetry Foundation, among others. He was also co-host of the poetry podcast The Poetry Gods from 2016 to 2017. His work has appeared in the New York Times and the Paris Review. He is also a poetry performer and educator. He has performed and offered poetry workshops across the United States and in Mexico at festivals such as the San Antonio Book Festival, the Wisconsin Book Festival, and the National Book Festival. He has also made presentations at various universities, including Northwestern University, the University of Missouri-Kansas City, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and SUNY College at Geneseo, New York. 

In 2023, Olivarez co-published Por Siempre (2023), a book about the Latinx community in the southwestern United States, in which Olivarez’s poems appear along with photographs by Antonio Salazar. He has spent much of his life in Chicago, which he described as “the center of my universe. It’s where I make most sense” (“Jose Olivarez.” Brooklyn Poets, 2020). As of 2025, Olivarez lives in Jersey City, New Jersey, according to his website.  

Poem Text

Olivarez, José. Citizen Illegal. 2018. Haymarket Books.