Illegally Yours: A Memoir

by Rafael Agustin

Overview

Now in paperback, a funny and poignant memoir about how as a teenager, TV writer Rafael Agustin (Jane The Virgin) accidentally discovered he was undocumented and how that revelation turned everything he thought he knew about himself and his family upside down.

Growing up, Rafa’s parents didn't want him to feel different because, as his mom told him: "Dreams should not have borders." But when he tried to get his driver's license during his junior year of high school, his parents were forced to reveal his immigration status. Suddenly, the kid who modeled his entire high school career after American TV shows had no idea what to do — there was no episode of Saved by the Bell where Zack gets deported! While his parents were relieved to no longer live a lie in front of their son, Rafa found himself completely unraveling in the face of his uncertain future.
 
Illegally Yours is a heartwarming, comical look at how this struggling Ecuadorian immigrant family bonded together to navigate Rafa's school life, his parents' work lives, and their shared secret life as undocumented Americans, determined to make the best of their always turbulent and sometimes dangerous American existence. From using the Ricky Martin/Jennifer Lopez “Latin Explosion” to his social advantage in the ‘90s to how his parents—doctors in their home country of Ecuador—were reduced to working menial jobs in the US, the family's secret became their struggle, and their struggle became their hustle. An alternatingly hilarious and touching exploration of belonging and identity, Illegally Yours revolves around one very simple question: What does it mean to be American?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781538705957
Publisher:	Grand Central Publishing
Publication date:	07/11/2023
Pages:	304
Sales rank:	281,816
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.10(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Rafael Agustin was a writer on the award-winning The CW show, Jane The Virgin, and is a past Sundance Institute Episodic Fellow. 
 
Agustin currently serves as CEO of the Latino Film Institute, where he oversees the Youth Cinema Project, the Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival (LALIFF), and LatinX in Animation. In 2018, LA Weekly named Agustin one of the fifty most essential people in Los Angeles. Also in 2018, the United Nations invited Agustin to speak at their 70th Anniversary Celebration of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In 2022, the LA Times declared Agustin a “Power Player” in their inaugural LA Vanguardia class.  
 
Agustin is a Board Member of Mother Jones, the oldest nonprofit investigative newsroom in the United States, and of the National Film Preservation Board at the Library of Congress. 
 
Agustin received his AA from Mt. San Antonio College, which awarded him Alumnus of the Year in 2015, and his BA and MA from UCLA’s School of Theater, Film & Television.

Table of Contents

Prologue 1

American Ninja 5

Field of Dreams 33

Doctors with Borders 45

Oliver Stone's Office 55

Don't Speak Spanish 63

Alien Life Form 75

April 29, 1992 87

Nuthin' but a G Thang 95

A Dog Named Monsieur 103

Under the Table 109

Becoming Zack Morris 123

The Big News 135

Rolling Papers 141

The American Revolution 147

The Illegal Presidency 153

Campus Ministry 159

Free Rafa 167

Machismo Facade 177

Stuck in Tijuana 189

Ma and Pa Kent 197

How to Disappoint Your Immigrant Parents without Trying 209

Affirmative Action Cookie Sale 223

The Old Man and the Parking Lot 235

The Deported 245

The Comedy with the Name Nobody Wants to Say 253

Guy in Kentucky 263

Tom Bradley International 269

George Washington's Right-Hand Man 273

Epilogue 279

Acknowledgments 285

Editorial Reviews

Agustin’s memoir cements its place in a growing collection of personal literature about the immigrant experience written in recent years.”—USA Today

"This award-winning TV writer's immigration journey is an astonishing take on the American Dream told with wit, grit and inspiration."—People Magazine

"[Agustin's] memoir puts a comedic and pop cultural spin on a classic American coming-of-age tale."—The Hollywood Reporter

“Agustin offers poignant musings on the difficulties of existing in a country where the notion of race “is mostly understood as a Black and white paradigm.” What emerges is an inspiring and often hilarious story that echoes Agustin’s mother’s refrain: “Dreams should not have borders.” Funny as he is, Agustin is a serious talent.”—Publishers Weekly, starred review

"The blissful joy of full American citizenship and a successful career form the satisfying coda to this thoughtful, inspiring memoir. An enthusiastic and motivational self-portrait."—Kirkus Reviews

"[A] comedic and heartfelt memoir. . . Agustin writes with a deft humor that juxtaposes poignant memories with wry observations, highlighting the people who showed him kindness and helped him carve out his successful career. Under its breezy tone, this memoir is an honest exploration of the stamina and sacrifices it takes to dream in spite of the violence of borders. “—Library Journal

"Funny is where the heart is. But this book is more than just funny––it’s candid, discerning, and truthful in the most specific and humane ways about what it means to be an immigrant, undocumented or not, in America. A writer of immense heart, Rafael Agustín pierces through these pages." —Jose Antonio Vargas, founder of Define American and best-selling author of Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen

“I really would’ve preferred more poop jokes or a more intense exploration of the deleterious effects that the immigrant experience has on one’s bowels, but even in their absence, Illegally Yours manages to provide a bighearted and unforgettable look at the real experience of undocumented immigrants in the United States. Buy this book because he bought mine.”—Eddie Huang, bestselling author of Fresh Off the Boat

“I love when I read someone’s story about their past, their present, and their future. In Illegally Yours, Rafael does a fantastic job of painting pictures and experiences with words. You realize that regardless of who the reader is or where they come from, they can connect with his book. It simply displays a full range of emotions from joy to struggle—exactly what life is. It does a great job of showing what one is capable of when given a fighting chance.”—Cristela Alonzo, comedian, writer, and first Latina to create/write/star in a network sitcom

"In this poignant memoir, Rafael Agustin welcomes us into his life, his home, and his heart. Fluctuating between witty humor and tender vulnerability, he shows us how he became the amazing human being that he is today. This book is equal parts an act of rebellion and an act of celebration—rebellion against a society that thinks immigrants should keep our stories quiet instead of sharing them with the world, and a celebration of the resilience of the immigrant spirit."—Reyna Grande, bestselling author of The Distance Between Us

“You cannot change someone’s mind before first changing their heart. Rafael Agustin's Illegally Yours does that with one of the most divisive issues in America today: immigration.”—Alyssa Milano, activist, actor, producer, and bestselling author of Hope

From the Publisher

★ 05/02/2022

Television writer Agustin makes a splashy debut with this humorous account of coming-of-age, undocumented, in Southern California. Born in Ecuador to two doctors, Agustin arrived in the United States in the late 1980s at age seven, only to be disappointed that the America he’d watched obsessively on TV was nowhere to be found. While his parents struggled to juggle English classes with his father’s graveyard shifts as a sleep technician, Agustin writes, “Things seemed to be worse here than they were in Ecuador.” Meanwhile, Agustin wrestled with his identity, eventually coming to learn two life-altering things while attending public school: one, that he wasn’t white, and two, that he was undocumented—a revelation, he wittily recalls, “that was like an end-of-the-world-comet hitting my frosted-tipped head.” As he reckons with being “illegal” (his family came to the U.S. on tourist visas that expired) and traces his path to finding liberation through the world of acting, and, later, TV writing, Agustin offers poignant musings on the difficulties of existing in a country where the notion of race “is mostly understood as a Black and white paradigm.” What emerges is an inspiring and often hilarious story that echoes Agustin’s mother’s refrain: “Dreams should not have borders.” Funny as he is, Agustin is a serious talent. (July)

Publishers Weekly

06/01/2022

Agustin, an award-winning TV writer (Jane the Virgin), shares a comedic and heartfelt memoir about discovering his undocumented status and how it shaped his childhood and young adult life. Born in Ecuador, Agustin went with his parents when they left behind their careers as doctors to seek the American dream. What follows is a rough and restless childhood constantly on the move, his immigrant family working hard to build a life while keeping their status secret. His teenage years are packed with youthful antics, American TV shows, and figuring out where an undocumented Latino boy belongs in a country where racism runs so deep. He eventually finds his answer in the performing arts. Agustin writes with a deft humor that juxtaposes poignant memories with wry observations, highlighting the people who showed him kindness and helped him carve out his successful career. Under its breezy tone, this memoir is an honest exploration of the stamina and sacrifices it takes to dream in spite of the violence of borders. VERDICT An earnest and entertaining backstory to an accomplished creator, best suited to readers of celebrity memoirs, inspirational stories, and coming-of-age narratives.—Zhui Ning Chang

Library Journal

The writer for television’s “Jane the Virgin,” Rafael Agustin, narrates his own experiences as a child in this audiobook about leaving his pampered childhood in Ecuador to join his parents as they search for the American Dream in the 1990s. As young Rafa tries to learn how to reconcile his knowledge of American movies with the real America he has moved to, he learns that his legal status as an immigrant is not as secure as he previously believed. Listeners experience Agustin’s real joy and exasperation as he describes learning to be an American. His pacing, emphasis, and inflection give this audiobook the poignancy and the sometimes laugh-out-loud moments it truly deserves. V.B. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine

OCTOBER 2022 - AudioFile

The writer for television’s “Jane the Virgin,” Rafael Agustin, narrates his own experiences as a child in this audiobook about leaving his pampered childhood in Ecuador to join his parents as they search for the American Dream in the 1990s. As young Rafa tries to learn how to reconcile his knowledge of American movies with the real America he has moved to, he learns that his legal status as an immigrant is not as secure as he previously believed. Listeners experience Agustin’s real joy and exasperation as he describes learning to be an American. His pacing, emphasis, and inflection give this audiobook the poignancy and the sometimes laugh-out-loud moments it truly deserves. V.B. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine

OCTOBER 2022 - AudioFile

2022-04-27
A TV writer chronicles his youth growing up unknowingly undocumented in the U.S.

In an affecting book he admits was “incredibly painful to write,” Agustin depicts his early life in the 1980s as the son of a mother and stepfather who were both doctors in economically challenged Ecuador. He grew up obsessed with DC Comics, Disney, the Lone Ranger, and “the Spanish-​dubbed version of the 1960s Batman TV show.” One day, he found out his aunt had asked the family to relocate to America via the family reunification program. Once ensconced in Southern California, where his classmates “just assumed Ecuador was a state in Mexico,” culture shock set in. Agustin and his family believed they would live “our vision of Americana,” but that disappointingly entailed his anesthesiologist mother walking miles to a cashier job at Kmart. While the author animates these episodes with robust pride, there is a lingering sense that this is not just a memoir about culture shock. The author eventually realized that his family had overstayed their tourist visas and planned on living in America as undocumented immigrants indefinitely. This oversight prevented his parents from enlisting in the military in an attempt to “rectify the immigration mess they found themselves in,” and the family anxiously scrambled to make ends meet and skirt authorities. Agustin’s struggles also encompassed aspects of racial identity as he sought to comprehend how being Latino fit into America’s rigid “Black and white paradigm.” It was only when the author tried to get a driver’s license without a Social Security number that his family’s status began severely jeopardizing their life in America. Balancing out the tense moments are heavy dollops of humor: recalling his grandmother’s use of Saran Wrap as a girdle, his first kiss in middle school, and exploring his love of theater throughout college. The blissful joy of full American citizenship and a successful career form the satisfying coda to this thoughtful, inspiring memoir.

An enthusiastic and motivational self-portrait.

Kirkus Reviews