Amá and Apá leave their lives in Mexico in order to build a brighter future in the United States. Although they are somewhat happy in Los Ojos, their Mexican town, they also struggle with the fact that their community's economy is primarily run by cartels. When they cross the border, Amá is brutally raped by a coyote (a person who smuggles immigrants across the Mexico–United States border). As a result of the attack, she becomes pregnant with Olga, Julia's older sister.
Amá and Apá are motivated to leave Mexico by the American Dream. The American Dream is defined as "a set of ideals in which freedom includes the opportunity for prosperity and success, as well as an upward social mobility for the family and children, achieved through hard work in a society with few barriers." The term first became popularized in 1931 by James Truslow Adams, an American writer and historian. In spite of social class or circumstances of birth, Adams argued that the United States fosters "opportunity for [everyone] according to ability or achievement."
Many immigrants to the United States are inspired by the idea that through hard work and perseverance, impoverished people can be socioeconomically mobile. However, generational studies have shown that it is more difficult to "move up" in America than it is in other "advanced nations." Sánchez follows this same idea in I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter. She describes in clear detail the pain and difficulties that Amá and Apá encounter in their daily lives in Chicago. They live in a dirty apartment, they can barely afford to put food on the table, and they work grueling hours in physically-demanding jobs. In this way, the lives that they lead are different from their expectations. In following the American dream, Sánchez demonstrates that the Reyes family is playing a game rigged against them.
