Author: David Bacon Publisher: Beacon Press ISBN: 9780807042267 Category : Foreign workers Languages : en Pages : 278
Book Description
For two decades photojournalist David Bacon has documented the connections between labor, migration, and the global economy. In Illegal People Bacon exposes the many ways globalization uproots people in Latin America and Asia, driving them to migrate. At the same time, U.S. immigration policy makes the labor of those displaced people a crime in the United States. Bacon makes his case through interviews and on-the-spot reporting both from impoverished communities abroad and from immigrant workplaces and neighborhoods here. He analyzes NAFTA's corporate tilt as a cause of displacement and migration from Mexico and shows that criminalizing immigrant labor also benefits employers. He argues that immigration and trade policy are elements of a single economic system. Bacon traces the development of illegal status back to slavery and shows the human cost of treating the indispensable labor of millions of migrants--and the migrants themselves--as illegal. Illegal People argues for a sea change in the way we think, debate, and legislate around issues of migration and globalization, promoting a human rights perspective throughout a globalized world.
Author: Elizabeth F. Cohen Publisher: Basic Books ISBN: 1541699858 Category : Law Languages : en Pages : 178
Book Description
A political scientist explains how the American immigration system ran off the rails -- and proposes a bold plan for reform Under the Trump administration, US immigration agencies terrorize the undocumented, target people who are here legally, and even threaten the constitutional rights of American citizens. How did we get to this point? In Illegal, Elizabeth F. Cohen reveals that our current crisis has roots in early twentieth century white nationalist politics, which began to reemerge in the 1980s. Since then, ICE and CBP have acquired bigger budgets and more power than any other law enforcement agency. Now, Trump has unleashed them. If we want to reverse the rising tide of abuse, Cohen argues that we must act quickly to rein in the powers of the current immigration regime and revive saner approaches based on existing law. Going beyond the headlines, Illegal makes clear that if we don't act now all of us, citizen and not, are at risk.
Author: Jose Angel N. Publisher: University of Illinois Press ISBN: 0252096185 Category : Biography & Autobiography Languages : en Pages : 137
Book Description
A day after José Ángel N. first crossed the United States border from Mexico, he was caught and then released onto the streets of Tijuana. Undeterred, N. crawled back through a tunnel to San Diego, where he entered the United States to stay. Illegal: Reflections of an Undocumented Immigrant is his timely and compelling memoir of building a new life in America. Arriving in the 1990s with a ninth grade education, N. traveled to Chicago where he found access to ESL and GED classes. He eventually attended college and graduate school and became a professional translator. Despite having a well-paying job, N. was isolated by a lack of legal documentation. Travel concerns made promotions impossible. The simple act of purchasing his girlfriend a beer at a Cubs baseball game caused embarrassment and shame when N. couldn't produce a valid ID. A frustrating contradiction, N. lived in a luxury high-rise condo but couldn't fully live the American dream. He did, however, find solace in the one gift America gave him–-his education. Ultimately, N.'s is the story of the triumph of education over adversity. In Illegal, he debunks the stereotype that undocumented immigrants are freeloaders without access to education or opportunity for advancement. With bravery and honesty, N. details the constraints, deceptions, and humiliations that characterize alien life "amid the shadows."
Author: Marie Marquardt Publisher: New Press, The ISBN: 1595588817 Category : Social Science Languages : en Pages : 354
Book Description
In June 2012, President Obama’s executive order enforcing parts of the Dream Act and the Supreme Court’s decision to block components of Arizona’s draconian immigration law propelled the immigration debate back into the headlines once again. Based on oral histories, individual testimonies, and years of research into the lives of ordinary migrants, Living “Illegal” offers richly textured “stories that often get lost in the rhetoric” (Gainesville Sun)—of real people working, building families, and enriching their communities even as the political climate has grown increasingly hostile. Moving far beyond stock images and conventional explanations, Living “Illegal” challenges our assumptions about why immigrants come to the United States, where they settle, and how they have adapted to the often confusing patchwork of local immigration ordinances. This revealing narrative takes us into Southern churches, onto the streets of major American cities, into the fields of Florida, and back and forth across different national boundaries—from Brazil to Mexico and Guatemala. A new preface by the authors frames these stories in light of recent policy developments, as well as the 2012 elections and possible shifts ahead. An unmistakably relevant, deeply humane book, Living “Illegal” will continue to stand as an authoritative guide as we address one of the most pressing issues of our time.
Author: Aviva Chomsky Publisher: Beacon Press ISBN: 0807001686 Category : Social Science Languages : en Pages : 257
Book Description
A longtime immigration activist explores what it means to be an undocumented American—revealing the ever-shifting nature of status in the U.S.—in this “impassioned and well-reported case for change (New York Times) In this illuminating work, immigrant rights activist Aviva Chomsky shows how “illegality” and “undocumentedness” are concepts that were created to exclude and exploit. With a focus on US policy, she probes how people, especially Mexican and Central Americans, have been assigned this status—and to what ends. Blending history with human drama, Chomsky explores what it means to be undocumented in a legal, social, economic, and historical context. The result is a powerful testament of the complex, contradictory, and ever-shifting nature of status in America.
Author: Bettina Restrepo Publisher: Harper Collins ISBN: 0062069780 Category : Young Adult Fiction Languages : en Pages : 213
Book Description
“This memorable coming-of-age story will awaken readers to the overlooked struggles of immigrants.” —Kirkus Reviews Nora is on a desperate journey far away from home. When her father leaves their beloved Mexico in search of work, Nora stays behind. She fights to make sense of her loss while living in poverty—in wait of her father’s return and a better day. When the letters and money stop coming, Nora decides that she and her mother must look for him in Texas. After a frightening experience crossing the border, the two are all alone in a strange place. Nora must find the strength to survive while aching for small comforts: friends, a new school, and her quinceañera. * Booklist Top Ten First Novels for Youth * YALSA Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Adult Readers * Amelia Bloomer List * TAYSHAS Reading List Pick * “Thoroughly engaging and thought-provoking. An excellent choice for a book discussion group or a class conversation starter about immigration, prejudice, or gangs.” —Voice of Youth Advocates (VOYA) “A vivid and unsparing look at the life of an illegal teenage girl who comes to the U. S. from Mexico in search of her father. Faith, family, and friendship are all features of this unforgettable individual life. An important novel that deserves a wide readership.” —Michael Cart, author of Young Adult Literature: From Romance to Realism
Author: Deborah A. Boehm Publisher: NYU Press ISBN: 1479861073 Category : Social Science Languages : en Pages : 255
Book Description
The impact of the U.S. immigration and legal systems on children and youth In the United States, millions of children are undocumented migrants or have family members who came to the country without authorization. The unique challenges with which these children and youth must cope demand special attention. Illegal Encounters considers illegality, deportability, and deportation in the lives of young people—those who migrate as well as those who are affected by the migration of others. A primary focus of the volume is to understand how children and youth encounter, move through, or are outside of a range of legal processes, including border enforcement, immigration detention, federal custody, courts, and state processes of categorization. Even if young people do not directly interact with state immigration systems—because they are U.S. citizens or have avoided detention—they are nonetheless deeply affected by the reach of the government in its many forms. Contributors privilege the voices and everyday experiences of immigrant children and youth themselves. By combining different perspectives from advocates, service providers, attorneys, researchers, and young immigrants, the volume presents rich accounts that can contribute to informed debates and policy reforms. Illegal Encounters sheds light on the unique ways in which policies, laws, and legal categories shape so much of daily life for young immigrants. The book makes visible the burdens, hopes, and potential of a population of young people and their families who have been largely hidden from public view and are currently under siege, following their movement through complicated immigration systems and institutions in the United States.
Author: Mae M. Ngai Publisher: Princeton University Press ISBN: 1400850231 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 411
Book Description
This book traces the origins of the "illegal alien" in American law and society, explaining why and how illegal migration became the central problem in U.S. immigration policy—a process that profoundly shaped ideas and practices about citizenship, race, and state authority in the twentieth century. Mae Ngai offers a close reading of the legal regime of restriction that commenced in the 1920s—its statutory architecture, judicial genealogies, administrative enforcement, differential treatment of European and non-European migrants, and long-term effects. She shows that immigration restriction, particularly national-origin and numerical quotas, remapped America both by creating new categories of racial difference and by emphasizing as never before the nation's contiguous land borders and their patrol. Some images inside the book are unavailable due to digital copyright restrictions.
Author: Joanna Dreby Publisher: Univ of California Press ISBN: 0520959272 Category : Social Science Languages : en Pages : 309
Book Description
What does it mean to be an illegal immigrant, or the child of immigrants, in this era of restrictive immigration laws in the United States? As lawmakers and others struggle to respond to the changing landscape of immigration, the effects of policies on people's daily lives are all too often overlooked. In Everyday Illegal, award-winning author Joanna Dreby recounts the stories of children and parents in eighty-one families to show what happens when a restrictive immigration system emphasizes deportation over legalization. Interweaving her own experiences, Dreby illustrates how bitter strains can arise in relationships when spouses have different legal status. She introduces us to "suddenly single mothers" who struggle to place food on the table and pay rent after their husbands have been deported. Taking us into the homes and schools of children living in increasingly vulnerable circumstances, she presents families that are divided internally, with some children having legal status while their siblings are undocumented. Even children who are U.S. citizens regularly associate immigration with illegality. With vivid ethnographic details and a striking narrative, Everyday Illegal forces us to confront the devastating impacts of our immigration policies as seen through the eyes of children and their families. As legal status influences identity formation, alters the division of power within families, and affects the opportunities children have outside the home, it becomes a growing source of inequality that ultimately touches us all.
Author: David Bacon
Author: Elizabeth F. Cohen
Author: Jose Angel N.
Author: 
Author: Marie Marquardt
Author: Aviva Chomsky
Author: Bettina Restrepo
Author: Deborah A. Boehm
Author: Mae M. Ngai
Author: Joanna Dreby