Author Chats
In Memoir, Jose Campos Celebrates His — and Others’ — Journeys of Defying the Odds as Undocumented Immigrants
April 03, 2025
D.C. Bar member Jose R. Campos came to the United States from El Salvador as a teenager. In Surviving the
Law: From Undocumented Immigration to Doctors, Lawyers, Scientists, Campos provides a unique perspective on the challenges faced by undocumented youth pursuing higher education in the United States.
Campos, founder of the nonprofit Philemon Foundation, dedicates a significant portion of his book to retelling in detail the frustrations and challenges he faced attending college, and eventually law school, without lawful status. Interspersed between these autobiographical chapters, Campos profiles more than a dozen individuals who had similar experiences pursuing graduate and doctoral degrees despite their lack of documentation.
The result is a collection of stories that are, by equal measure, sad, frustrating, and hopeful. Campos tells his own story with a compelling degree of candor, and he reflects on the determination and optimism that guided him and his fellows on their journeys. Here, Campos talks about why he wrote the book and how he convinced others to share their stories.
What led you to collect these stories?
I had just come out of a long-term relationship and was thinking about the meaning of life. I thought that I could just stare at my computer looking at the bank account grow, but that didn't feel like the meaningful life I wanted.
I realized the meaning of life is the connection that we have with other people, so I wanted to increase my circle of friends — not just in quantity, but in quality. I also realized that I could be a friend to any person in the world if I wanted to reach out to them. I decided to write about my own experiences, and to try to connect with others who faced similar challenges.
So, at first I decided to reach out to lawyers who went to law school while undocumented.
I knew some of them. Two of my friends said to me, “Hey, I’m on board,” but I could not write a book just with [them]. The other friends that I knew were too busy. You know, lawyers are busy.
So, I expanded my target group to include people who went to graduate school while undocumented. That’s why I initiated this book. I’ve always wanted to write a book about my story, but I thought that if I just told my story, it wouldn’t have the same impact as if I also told the stories of others … [and] people could easily dismiss it. In my book, I tell the stories of 14 other people who did something very close to what I did.
What kinds of challenges did you face in writing your book?
English is not my first language. I have grown a lot with the English language in the past four years … It has taken me four years to write this book — one year to research it, one year to write it, one year to edit it, and one year to publish it. This fifth year is going to be my marketing piece. English language writing has never been my real forte. So, that was one challenge.
Another challenge was actually finding these people … It was labor intensive. I did about 20 hours of research on their lives. Once [I found] them, getting them to speak [to me] was another challenge. I talked to about 100 people on the phone, and I interviewed about 50.
I had to convince them that it was worth it for them to give me their secrets so I could help others. That was another challenge. You know, people are defensive. They don’t want to tell their secrets.
This was my [pitch], which I [put] in the book: “You have to be vulnerable. The more vulnerable you are, the more power you can give me, so I can give to others.” And with that pitch, some of them opened up.
And then the second piece of the interview was for me to go all over America visiting them in their cities … I probably spent $100,000 on this book, but I wanted to do something that I was proud of, and I’m actually really proud of this.
You use superhero-like monikers when referring to the “fellows.” Tell me about your use of pseudonyms for your subjects.
I had a discussion with some of my friends. Should I use real names, if they would allow me to, or should I keep them hidden? There’s some mysticism if I kept a pseudonym, or a code name.
I thought of each of the fellows as a person with superpowers, someone who isn’t normal. How did I come up with their nickname? I made a spreadsheet, and my inner geek came out. I asked myself what their superpower was, what their power level was.
Healer is a doctor, and she heals people. Fresh’s name came from the Fresh Prince of Bel Air. She went from gang neighborhoods to success in L.A. Tony is a reference to Iron Man. Iron Man’s Tony Stark is rich, and Tony is rich.
Thinking of the fellows as superheroes also worked because they are so powerful, as [humans], but they also have a weak side. They have a kryptonite.
Is this the first of many books, or do you have other projects in mind?
If, when I turn 60, a major development has happened in my life that is worth writing [about], maybe I’ll write another book. I hope that doesn’t happen because if I’m writing another book, that means something really hard happened. There’s a lot of suffering and pain that I had to overcome to write this book.
Instead, my next project is the Philemon Foundation. [It] gets its name from the Greek mythological character Philemon. Zeus visited Philemon’s city in disguise, intending to destroy it, but was moved by Philemon’s hospitality and spared it.
The Philemon Foundation offers free housing to graduate students facing challenging conditions. I want to expand the foundation and help as many people as I can. I’m trying to place people in a nice neighborhood where they don’t have to worry about their safety or their commute.
That’s me paying it forward. I and many of my fellows benefited from sponsors who provided us with housing, and that remains an important part of our success stories.
Where can readers find your book and learn more about the Philemon Foundation?
My book is available for purchase on Amazon. Additional information about the Philemon Foundation can be found on the organization’s website.
