In person at Brookline Booksmith! Celebrate the release of America, Let Me In: A Choose Your Immigration Story with author Felipe Torres Medina, in conversation with Simón Rios.
This event is cosponsored by the Massachusetts Immigrant & Refugee Advocacy (MIRA) Coalition. MIRA Coalition’s mission is to convene, serve, and organize together with our 140+ member organizations, community leaders, and allies for the advancement of all immigrants across the Commonwealth and beyond. MIRA Coalition places immigrant and refugee voices at the forefront to advocate for the well-being of our communities. MIRA’s work spans policy analysis, legislative and administrative advocacy, organizing, training and education, and strategic communications. Learn more about them here.
Register for the event!
RSVP to let us know you’re coming! Depending on the volume of responses, an RSVP may be required for entrance to the event. You will also be alerted to important details about the program, including safety requirements, cancellations, and book signing updates. In the event that we reach capacity and have to close RSVPs, there will not be a waiting list.
America, Let Me In: A Choose Your Immigration Story
A hilarious and satirically accurate introduction to the United States immigration system from comedian and writer for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert Felipe Torres Medina
Born in Colombia, Felipe Torres Medina moved to the US at the age of 21 and has spent over ten years of his life both navigating the chaos and confusion of the immigration system and explaining that craziness to the clueless Americans around him. There are few subjects that Americans have stronger opinions on. And there are few subjects that they know less about.
So, like many immigrants before him, Torres Medina sets out to do the job American-born citizens won’t: make the US immigration process accessible, relatable, and, hey, a little bit funny. With an outsider’s eye, an insider’s affection, and a biting, humorous flair, Torres Medina invites readers from all passport lines to explore the multiple paths and potholes of moving to America, and experience just how many choices it takes to choose a new home.
In this laugh-out-loud book, you will be taken down a multitude of possible immigration stories that range from the kafkaesquely silly to an uproarious good time. Some of them are real things that happened to Felipe—like discovering in an immigration interview that he shares a name with several criminals—and some of them are totally invented and will make you question your sanity.
By the end of this handy guide, you’ll learn all you need to know about visas like the H-1B work visa, the infamous 90-day fiancé visa, the so-called Einstein visa, and many more. Remember, the fate of each character’s journey is all in your hands. So choose at your own risk.
Felipe Torres Medina is a Peabody and Writers Guild of America Award–winning writer from Bogotá, Colombia. His writing for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert has earned him five Emmy nominations. His humor has appeared in The New Yorker, McSweeney’s, and others. He lives in New York City with his wife and is totally chill when you misspell his birth country’s name. (He is not.)
Born in Boston’s Jamaica Plain neighborhood, Simón Rios is an award-winning bilingual reporter in WBUR’s newsroom. He graduated from Emerson College in 2005 with a bachelor’s degree in writing, literature and journalism. At WBUR he covers the ways Greater Boston is changing, with an eye on demographics, immigration and inequality. He traveled to Puerto Rico several times since Hurricane Maria, bringing back stories about the bridges between the island and the more than 300,000 Boricuas who call Massachusetts home.
