WE ARE HERE TO STAY Voices of Undocumented Young Adults

Nine narrators lend their voices and talents to the intimate stories of undocumented immigrants who were brought to America as children and who lived in the shadows until the passage of Deferred Action For Childhood Arrivals (DACA). The stories are presented as interviews, and the first-person confessional style lends itself well to audio, creating powerful performances that express the urgency, pain, and uncertainty that is universal among the anonymous contributors. In this flawless production, listeners are first introduced to three siblings who are escaping violence in Mexico. Each sibling speaks through a different narrator, and the performance has a familial back and forth. Lauren Ezzo give a stand-out solo performance as a young Samoan immigrant. Ezzo picks up a natural cadence and infuses the right amount of optimism and fear into the young person's voice. J.E.C. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine [Published: MARCH 2019]