The Cost of Being Undocumented: One Woman's Reckoning with America's Inhumane Math

by Alíx Dick, Antero García

An undocumented activist and a social scientist come together to tally of the structural costs of undocumented life

An inhumane math pervades this even as our government extracts labor and often taxes from undocumented workers, it excludes these same workers from its social safety net. As a result, these essential workers struggle to get their own basic needs met, from healthcare to education, from freedom of association to the ability to drive to work without looking for ICE in the rearview mirror.

When Alíx Dick's family found themselves in the crosshairs of cartel violence in Sinaloa, Mexico, she and her siblings were forced to flee to the U.S. Many of the scenes that she shares are difficult and escaping from a relationship in which her partner threatened to report her to immigration; getting root canals done in an underground dental clinic. But there are moments of triumph, founding her own nonprofit; working on films that tell important stories; and working with her co-author Dr. Garcia to tell her story in a framework that lays bare the realities of structural oppression.

As Alíx and Antero tally the costs of undocumented life, they present a final bill of what is owed to the immigrant community. In this way, their book flips the traditional narrative about the economics of immigration on its head.

Genres: Nonfiction, Politics, Memoir, Audiobook, Adult

232 pages, Hardcover

Published June 17, 2025

Reviews

[Alyce · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was so powerful! Reads a lot like a memoir but the authors developed a pretty unique qualitative research process. It was not only educational, but also realllly effective in facilitating perspective taking. I’m not sure how anyone could read this—knowing that at least some of these experiences are shared among millions—and not feel empathy for undocumented people and want to advocate for change. The cost is too great.

Thank you to the publisher and authors for this book (Goodreads giveaway)—I’m recommending it to everyone!

[Jessi ᥫ᭡ · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautiful story of a woman who overcame a lot, and will continue to overcome what life throws at her, no matter the circumstances! Her story has touched my heart, and I relate to her story! Definitely a recommend read! All we have is each other, unos a los otros, con Dios delante 🩷

[Collette Lake · Rating 4 out of 5]

“You see me as what this country has done to me, rather than the human being I am”
Each undocumented person has a story and a reason. If our lawmakers would take time to listen maybe they could make life easier to navigate for these people.
This is one woman’s experience. She doesn’t sugar coat it or make excuses. Very eye opening.

[Itzel ⋆.˚⭒⋆.˚ · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Todo lo que tenemos es a nosotros mismos.” All we have is each other.

Powerful read!

[Pamela Jo Mason · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a detailed look into the struggles of immigrants who come to the US to escape poverty, oppression, and significant violence. It’s an eye opening look at how some immigrants who only want to survive and live a better life are fraught with the challenges of trying to do good things, like starting a nonprofit organization, trying to help people, but lacking the support and necessary contacts and networking, financially and socially. It’s a different look at what has been presented in the past as immigrants just looking for handouts; this is the reality of just trying to get a hand up.

[Gillian · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an amazing and moving book. I loved the writing style and that the book was written like a memoir but also included policy and sociological research. The narrative was gripping and I finished the book in two days. I am excited to read more of Alix’s work and to see it in TV shows and movies! A big thank you to Alix for putting her life story into writing despite all the hardships and traumas she has endured. Her story humanizes the struggles of the undocumented in the US, and I am sure it resonates with so many people and will serve as a way for people who do not have this experience to start to understand what this struggle is really like.

[Sol · Rating 5 out of 5]

Monolingualism is the norm, but it is not the norm worldwide. On earth, it is not normal. The majority of individuals in the world speak more than one language. American exceptionalism fails to acknowledge this.

This was a fantastic and timely listen. It's a sort of memoir of Alix. Her story, where she grew up, why she ended up moving to the US (drug cartels) and how her life has been since living in the US as an undocumented person. She busts a lot of myths that Americans might have about undocumented people such as the fact that they are "draining" American resources. They are not. They are unable to access healthcare or any other safety net (social security, disability, retirement) that most Americans can. They are also the most vulnerable population out there as there are no accommodations or protections for them. If an undocumented woman is the victim of DA she can't call the police to report it.
Her story was not an easy listen but a necessary one.

America doesn't have a problem with undocumented people, it has a problem with brown undocumented people

[Alex Abowd · Rating 5 out of 5]

An incredible memoir detailing the life of an undocumented young woman in the US and her life in Mexico prior. Each chapter goes through one of ten structural costs of being undocumented - healthcare, work, mental health, religion. My favorite quote (and I think this really is the backbone of what this memoir was about) was “When you see me as labor, it means you don’t see me as a person. I am simply your food being prepared, your children being tended to, your home being maintained. And then, when that need is fulfilled, I disappear from your mind.” It’s such a good reminder that even as we fight for immigrant rights - with the main discussion point typically being that they are paying taxes and paying into systems that they don’t benefit from - we must also fight for their humanity. For them to access the human rights we all deserve, not just because they are working for lower salaries. This was a great first book in my pursuit of educating myself on immigration

[Christian · Rating 5 out of 5]

An ABSOLUTE MUST READ. This is an incredible piece of work that leads us into the life of the Author Alix Dick as an undocumented woman navigating the cost of living in America without citizenship. The process of this piece of work and what it took to write it is an incredible feat by the Authors one an artist and another as a Stanford professor. I think this is revolutionary for research work where the narrative is controlled by the very person the research is intended to be about. The way they have chosen to center the voices of the undocumented people instead of writing about them as a third other is incredible.

[Ariel C. · Rating 3 out of 5]

honest and eye opening memoir. makes it clear how much and often public healthcare and social welfare in SG is taken for granted. interesting content, but i found myself unable to properly connect with the author or enjoy the process of her storytelling

[Hemma Papp · Rating 5 out of 5]

Should be required reading in today's climate. The author puts a grippingly human face to the understanding that any one of us could find ourselves in the position of being "undocumented" through no fault of our own. The treatment of undocumented humans and the US anglocentric portrayal of bipoc worth is on full display and we (wyt people) have to pay attention. I am so proud of this beautiful human for giving back and digging in despite her struggles. She is a warrior!

[Glenn Harden · Rating 4 out of 5]

A moving examination of what it means to be "undocumented" in the United States. After reading, I plan to use this in one of the classes I teach on migration.

[Shauna O'Brien · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading Alix’s story. This was a great read and a heartbreaking reminder of how undocumented immigrants are exploited.

[Kristen Mcknight · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wish every American would read this book to get a glimpse of what it is like to be an undocumented person in this country. This author has all my admiration for her perseverance through traumatic experiences and amidst truly horrifying conditions.

[Navlene · Rating 5 out of 5]

This memoir deserves way more attention. Easily the best one I’ve read this year. What a powerful and unforgettable journey.

[Corrina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Strong recommend

[Mary Anne]

4.5 STARS

How this book ended up on my TBR: No clue. My personal email inbox is an absolute mess. I haven't read a newsletter in ages, and it's the only place I can imagine hearing about this book, except possibly someone on Instagram mentioned it. Somehow this book came across my periphery and here we are.

The title of this book gives a very fair preview of what the reader will experience. The book is in first-person, though the authors (Alix Dick and Antero Garcia) explain early on that they co-wrote this book. It began as possible research for Garcia, until his university's IRB rejected the proposal as not being "scholarly". Dick had been a nanny for Garcia's family, and they are open about the added complexity of a power relationship between the two, as well as with their research and writing process (writing together, not for each other). While I appreciated the up-front explanation of the process, I worried that the book would be more scholarly than I'd anticipated. I need not have worried.

Alix Dick is extremely transparent about her life, including of course her immigration story. But not everything is about her immigration story, and I don't know why that wasn't surprising. It's a part of her life that impacts so many other areas of her life (her time, her faith, her health). That she is Mexican and lived through a cartel war continue to impact her life on a daily basis. Alix is quick to explain that her story does not represent more than one person, but she and Antero argue that hearing her story can help readers better understand the lives and perspectives of immigrants. At worst, it chips away at the stereotypes and generalizations (many of them negative) that we hear about immigrants in the US. Alix's life is not glamourous in any way, and readers are right to question why she would go through so much to live in the US. Her answer is ridiculously simple: it would be worse in Mexico. And that is baffling.

But you can tell a researcher is involved, because even though the book is not completely using scholarly language, there are interviews and footnotes of facts throughout the book. This is a great book for anyone interested in a Mexican immigrant's experience. It's certainly not apoliitical; the authors call out vile language, unpleasant characterizations, and recent legislation. They also write about the COVID-19 pandemic, and while it made practically everyone's lives worse, it significantly worsened the lives of the poor and undocumented, who were often required to expose themselves.

This book is great for anyone who wants to learn personal and current experiences with immigration. I feel like this book is especially appropriate for anyone who has never met an immigrant, especially an undocumented immigrant. Immigration is one of those issues where attaching a human face and experience is essential to humanizing the topic and the people connected to it.

--

PS. My days on GoodReads are likely numbered. If you all ever go to The StoryGraph, let's be friends there! Here's my profile.

[Eli]

I’m not sure how to feel about this book, in that I think some of the bad outcomes have possibly occurred because of the authors religious evangelical naïveté. There is quite a bit of religious talk that I didn’t connect with.

[Hailey · Rating 4 out of 5]

the most important mathematical calculation done recently.

[Iris · Rating 5 out of 5]

This research project turned memoir is worth the read. I really enjoyed the chapter structure and helped me digest the content. It made me reflect on the situations that bring immigrants to the US and how it may not be to achieve the "American Dream" but rather a dire need for survival. It highlights how many ways undocumented immigrants are exploited even in aspects of life such as love. 💔

"The good immigrant archetype means I'm only seen as valuable if I'm constantly working"

[Michal Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Required reading!

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading this book, written before the gestapo-like ICE raids began, made me incredibly sad. I wish everyone who thinks immigrants are here for a handout had to read it. Alix Dick’s writing and experience is so powerful. I could not imagine the lives people are fleeing when they come to the United States in need of asylum. Dick has lived half the life she wanted to because of the limitations of being undocumented, and she’s still more grateful for her experiences and opportunities than most people I know. I’m glad she wrote this book to help enlighten people and give others like her a voice.

[Blanca Garica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hit close to home. Many parts of this felt like I was reading excerpts of my own journals especially the parts where Alix goes into detail about her religious and political beliefs and how she handles them both with the upmost humility. I was glad to see that there are more of us with these mentalities. I hope this book lands in the hands of those who need the education so we can all finally work towards a permanent humane way to handle immigration and support immigrant communities.

[Anandi · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's heartbreaking to know how many ways immigrants are blamed for costs or stealing opportunities when it's actually the opposite. The ways in which these people pay for being considered less than human is painful.

[Emily Orth · Rating 5 out of 5]

One day, I hope this book can be studied in classrooms, colleges, and conferences not only in America, but around the world to accurately depict, address, and provide reparations for the dehumanizing and inhumane treatment and stereotypes of immigrants and the colonized. I hope this book can break the lies that politicians consistently tell about how immigrants are taking jobs, healthcare, etc, when in reality Americans are the ones who take and benefit from immigrants. Alix’s vivid and detailed storytelling brings to light not only the financial costs she has incurred due to her immigration status, but also the costs of her childhood, her formative years, her mental and physical health, her relationships, and amplifies her risk of exploitation from employers, romantic partners, friends. She explains the cost that affects her entire life because of her immigration status that is a mere policy to continuously benefit the rich and the control of white supremacists, the same costs many other immigrants have to pay to feed the system that is slowly killing them.

Not only does she emphasize the issues that her and other immigrants experience, she brings up problems she has faces as a woman in America and Mexico, the constant misogyny of catcalling and risk of domestic violence. She tells the disappointment of Christian evangelicals, while being a Christian herself, being let down by these far right evangelicals who preach rhetoric that disregards her well-being, her whole life. Her story has so many odds stacked against her, but her resilience, hope, and love is an important story for everyone to hear. I hope this story brings many others the same feelings, especially during the horrors of this far-right current administration, but also pushes democrats and white liberals to address the system that they have been complicit in.

[ReadThruTheNight · Rating 5 out of 5]

This nation is permeated by a morally deplorable mathematical calculus that extracts taxes and wages from undocumented workers, denies them access to the social safety net, and subjects them to a militarized Border Patrol. Consequently, these essential workers encounter immense difficulties in fulfilling their fundamental needs, including healthcare, education, freedom of association, and movement. For most undocumented immigrants, these basic rights are unattainable, and as Alix Dick demonstrates, returning to their home countries is often not a safe or viable option.

The author illustrates how the undocumented are taken advantage of in this country, stripped of their human dignity, and forced to barely survive.

Having fled the cartels of Mexico, the author now faces dangers from American xenophobia. Many of the scenes in her story are unforgettable. As the costs of an undocumented life are tallied, the authors present a final bill of what is owed to the undocumented community, flipping the narrative about the economics of immigration.

This book is highly informative and eye-opening, making it a must-read for those seeking to educate themselves on undocumented immigration, commonly referred to as ‘illegals' in today's world.

Five stars!

[Maria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oof. This book was a fascinating insight into one woman's experience as an undocumented person in America today. Her story of how she came to be here was powerful and this is an incredibly important story.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

A powerful memoir that goes well beyond personal stories to calculate just what its title promises.

[Lisa Eirene · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very important book, I think everyone should read it. The horrors undocumented people go to has so many layers. The chapter about dental work alone was just horrific.

[Ali Andrews · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enlightening and uncomfortable