Overcoming Fear

2020 ◽  
pp. 44-67
Author(s):  
Abigail C. Saguy
Keyword(s):  
Coming Out ◽  
Immigrant Youth ◽  
State Level ◽  
Illegal Immigrants ◽  
Undocumented Immigrant ◽  
Dream Act ◽  
President Obama ◽  
Youth Movement ◽  
Deferred Action ◽  
Legislative Changes

This chapter examines how the undocumented immigrant youth movement has evoked “coming out as undocumented and unafraid” to mobilize fearful constituents. It discusses the local and state-level legislative changes for which the movement as advocated, including the federal DREAM Act. It argues that while the DREAM Act never passed, the undocumented immigrant youth movement arguably led President Obama to sign the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) executive order in June 2012, which deferred deportation for “Dreamers” who meet certain criteria on a two-year renewable basis. It further argues that the undocumented immigrant youth movement has successfully challenged cultural understandings by offering an alternative image to that of “illegal immigrants” sneaking across the border—that of educated and talented “DREAMers.”

Self-Care and Solidarity: The Undocumented Immigrant Youth Movement

2018 ◽  
pp. 139-160
Author(s):  
Ala Sirriyeh
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Young People ◽  
Self Care ◽  
The United States ◽  
Barack Obama ◽  
Undocumented Immigrant ◽  
Dream Act ◽  
Undocumented Youth ◽  
Youth Movement ◽  
Deferred Action

This chapter examines how a shift from the notion of compassion that is felt at a distance to a practice of compassion as suffering with one another in solidarity has been achieved by the undocumented youth movement in the United States. It begins with an overview of the origins of the undocumented youth movement, followed by a discussion of their campaign for the rights of the country's undocumented young people, their campaign for the passage of the federal Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act, and their response to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) introduced by President Barack Obama. It also considers the movement's use of storytelling as testimony in their DREAM Act campaign and shows how compassion as solidarity and co-suffering can play an important role in enabling witness bearing and the building of a more inclusive and enduring resistance to suffering and social injustice.

Come Out, Come Out, Whoever You Are

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abigail C. Saguy
Keyword(s):  
Social Change ◽  
Gay Men ◽  
Coming Out ◽  
The United States ◽  
Social Recognition ◽  
Undocumented Immigrant ◽  
Youth Movement ◽  
Time Space ◽  
Fat Acceptance ◽  
Plural Marriage

This book examines how and why people use the concept of coming out as a certain kind of person to resist stigma and collectively mobilize for social change. It examines how the concept of coming out has taken on different meanings as people adopt it for varying purposes—across time, space, and social context. Most other books about coming out—whether fiction, academic, or memoir—focus on the experience of gay men and lesbians in the United States. This is the first book to examine how a variety of people and groups use the concept of coming out in new and creative ways to resist stigma and mobilize for social change. It examines how the use of coming out among American lesbians, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer (LGBTQ+) people has shifted over time. It also examines how four diverse US social movements—including the fat acceptance movement, undocumented immigrant youth movement, the plural-marriage family movement among Mormon fundamentalist polygamists, and the #MeToo movement—have employed the concept of coming out to advance their cause. Doing so sheds light on these particular struggles for social recognition, while illuminating broader questions regarding social change, cultural meaning, and collective mobilization.

DACA-ptives

2018 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-47
Author(s):  
Joseph Farrell ◽  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Illegal Immigrants ◽  
United States Government ◽  
Executive Order ◽  
President Obama ◽  
Deferred Action ◽  
The People ◽  
States Government ◽  
The Will

The play on words in the title is used to illustrate a problem facing the United States government, United States citizens, and illegal immigrants. Recent estimates describe the number of illegal immigrants living in the United States at between eleven and twelve million individuals. To address issues with some of our illegal immigrants, on June 15, 2012, President Obama initiated the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. This is an Executive Order easing the burdens of immigration law on some illegal immigrants living in the United Stated. In what follows, I will explain how in spite of there being a right on the part of the United States and nations in general to exclude immigrants and to deport illegal immigrants, the DACA program is actually morally good if not a right on the part of the people in question insofar as they are captives of the will of their parents/guardians who brought them here originally and captives of a system of laws from which they cannot escape without help. In a sense, the DACA program liberates captives and rescues said captives from a legal and moral prison created by all those around them. Rescinding it involves moral turpitude.

In-State Resident Tuition Policies and the Self-Rated Health of High-School-Aged and College-Aged Mexican Noncitizen Immigrants, Their Families, and the Latina/o Community

2019 ◽  
Vol 89 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-29
Author(s):  
STEPHANIE POTOCHNICK ◽  
SARAH F. MAY ◽  
LISA Y. FLORES
Keyword(s):  
Social Inclusion ◽  
Resource Constraints ◽  
Immigrant Youth ◽  
State Level ◽  
Spillover Effects ◽  
The United States ◽  
Undocumented Immigrant ◽  
Immigration Policies ◽  
Self Rated Health ◽  
State Resident

Research on state-level immigration policies and health in the United States is limited. In this article Stephanie Potochnick, Sarah May, and Lisa Flores address the gap in research on state-level immigration policies and health in the US by examining the health implications of in-state resident tuition (IRT) policies and their effects. As one of the largest inclusive state efforts, IRT policies reduce educational barriers for Latina/o undocumented immigrant youth, alleviate familial resource constraints, and promote social inclusion. Consequently, IRT and IRT-related policies are likely to have strong impacts on the health of Latina/o undocumented immigrant youth, their families, and their community. Analyzing nationally representative household data and using Mexican noncitizens to proxy undocumented status, the authors adopted a difference-in-difference strategy to identify the influence of IRT-related policies on general self-rated health. Their findings show that IRT policies are associated with better health for Mexican noncitizen youth and young adults and also provide preliminary evidence for positive spillover effects on the health of family members.

scholarly journals Immigration Policy and Belonging: Ramifications for DACA Recipients’ Sense of Belonging

2021 ◽  
pp. 000276422199677
Author(s):  
Marie L. Mallet-García ◽  
Lisa García-Bedolla
Keyword(s):  
Sense Of Belonging ◽  
State Level ◽  
The United States ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
President Obama ◽  
Major Life ◽  
Deferred Action ◽  
American Society ◽  
Socioeconomic Benefits ◽  
Trump Administration

The socioeconomic benefits of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program initiated in 2012 by executive order from then-president Obama have been documented in the recent literature. However, the consequences of the legal challenge brought against the program by the Trump administration have not yet been fully examined. This article analyzes qualitative data from Latino Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipients in California to assess how the legal turmoil around the program is affecting their sense of belonging in the United States. We find that the uncertainty around the program has negative consequences on their sense of belonging, despite the program’s aims at improving it, and despite the respondents’ living in a rather welcoming state in terms of state-level immigration policies. Notably, we find that respondents feel increasingly alienated from and unwanted in American society and postpone major life goals.

Introduction

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Abigail C. Saguy
Keyword(s):  
Coming Out ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Close Association ◽  
Undocumented Immigrant ◽  
Negative Stereotypes ◽  
Youth Movement ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The World ◽  
Plural Marriage ◽  
Depth Interviews

This chapter argues that coming out has become what sociologists call a “master frame,” a way of understanding the world that is sufficiently elastic and inclusive that a wide range of social movements can use it in their own campaigns. It introduces five movements that are the focus of the book—(1) the American lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, plus (LGBTQ+) rights movement; (2) the fat acceptance movement; (3) the undocumented immigrant youth movement; (4) the plural-marriage family movement among Mormon fundamentalist polygamists; and (5) the #MeToo movement. It reviews the data and methods that form the basis of the book—participant observation, textual analysis, and 146 in-depth interviews. It argues that disparate groups use coming out to challenge negative stereotypes and overcome oppression, and that the close association of coming out with gay people informs the meaning of the term in other contexts. It previews the subsequent chapters.

“Coming out of the shadows” and “undocuqueer”

2014 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 87-120 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hinda Seif
Keyword(s):  
Coming Out ◽  
Immigrant Youth ◽  
Coalition Building ◽  
Youth Of Color ◽  
Youth Organizations ◽  
Youth Justice ◽  
Undocumented Youth ◽  
Youth Movement ◽  
Queer Youth ◽  
Youth Politics

Coming out of the shadows is a powerful strategy of the undocumented youth movement, yet there has been little analysis of the ways that young immigrants have adapted lesbian and gay speech. This article examines three key language developments of this movement that intersect with LGBTQ language: (1) coming out of the shadows; (2) coming out as both undocumented and LGBTQ; and (3) use of the term “undocuqueer.” This analysis is based on observation and discourse analysis of coming out rallies and other activities of Mexican origin members of Chicago’s Immigrant Youth Justice League (IYJL) and other immigrant youth organizations in Illinois between 2010 and 2013. These linguistic innovations reflect the leadership of women and queer people in undocumented youth organizing. Armed with language, activists are developing a confrontational queer youth politics of immigration that challenges both “homonormativity” (Duggan 2002) and citizenship orthodoxies. Queer Latina/o immigrant youth use the language of sexuality for self-realization, political mobilization, and coalition-building. As more LGBTQ youth of color publicly embrace their non-normative sexualities, they may creatively use language for social justice centered in their intersectional experiences.

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