UCLA Center for the Study of Women

I have spent the last 13 years working with undocumented communities in Los Angeles and have witnessed, time and time again, how the ripple effects of living without formal immigration status can tear apart the lives of some of the people I hold dearest. And so part of my personal, professionaland political life’s work has been to fightalongside undocumented folks in the struggle to gain rights, recognition, and respect. Immigration—especially undocumented immigration—is a loaded topic in this country. The President is talking about it, Members of Congress are debating about it, pundits are complaining about it, and everybody has an opinion about it. However, as I have engaged in this work over the past decade, I have met hundreds of people who are confused and/or misinformed about undocumented immigration, in large part due to negative representations of immigrants in the media. This article attempts to address some of the most common misconceptions about undocumented immigration.