The son of migrant farm workers, Herrera was educated at UCLA and Stanford University, and he earned his MFA from the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop. His numerous poetry collections include 187 REASONS MEXICANOS CAN'T CROSS THE BORDER: UNDOCUMENTS 1971-2007, Half of the World in Light: New and Selected Poems (2008), and Border- Crosser with a Lamborghini Dream (1999). In addition to publishing more than a dozen collections of poetry, Herrera has written short stories, young adult novels, and children's literature. His most recent works for young people include Imagine (2018) and Jabberwalking (2018). In 2015 he was named U.S. poet laureate.