Search results for ""David Scott FitzGerald" "Refuge beyond Reach""

Book SynopsisThrough powerful firsthand accounts, A Story to Save Your Life offers new insight into the harrowing realities of seeking protection in the United States. Sarah C. Bishop argues that cultural differences in communication shape every stage of the asylum process, playing a major but unexamined role.Trade ReviewThis brilliant book features the powerful voices of asylum seekers, government officials who have run the deportation machine, and advocates and researchers who make sense of mass migration. Bishop humanizes the lived experiences of those seeking asylum with stunning emotional depth and insight. A must-read for all who care about immigration. -- Elora Mukherjee, director of the Immigrants’ Rights Clinic at Columbia Law SchoolAll storytelling is cultural. It’s about time Western gatekeepers understood that. With thought-provoking research and moving stories, A Story to Save Your Life is a leap toward that vital education. -- Dina Nayeri, author of The Ungrateful Refugee: What Immigrants Never Tell YouBishop invites us into the room where asylum decisions are made. A Story to Save Your Life is a disturbing account of how everyone from asylum seekers to judges tries to communicate across cultural and bureaucratic barriers in a messy process where the consequences of misinterpretation are devastating. -- David Scott FitzGerald, author of Refuge Beyond Reach: How Rich Democracies Repel Asylum SeekersThis beautifully written book uncovers the problematic ways the legal structures for assessing asylum claims ignore, misinterpret, and otherwise skew the narratives asylum seekers must share to qualify for asylum. Bishop elucidates how the asylum process perpetuates trauma and results in asylum denials of people who should qualify. A Story to Save Your Life is an essential perspective on this vital topic. -- Beth Caldwell, Southwestern Law SchoolThis book is an essential read to better understand the challenges that asylum applicants encounter when sharing their stories. Bishop provides a clear and in-depth analysis of the relationship between communication and asylum outcomes. * Social Forces *Table of ContentsAcknowledgmentsNote on the Cover Art1. Halted ExpectationsIn Their Own Words: Josh Childress, Former U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agent2. Long Stories ShortIn Their Own Words: Alina Das, Immigration Attorney3. Emotional LaborIn Their Own Words: Ethan Taubes, Asylum Officer Trainer4. Nonverbal Communication and CredibilityIn Their Own Words: Dr. Renée Sicalides, Psychologist5. Deterring AsylumIn Their Own Words: Jeffery Chase, Former Immigration Judge6. The ReturnIn Their Own Words: Rafael, Detained Asylum SeekerPostscriptAppendix: Methods and Trauma-Informed Research DesignNotesBibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisThrough powerful firsthand accounts, A Story to Save Your Life offers new insight into the harrowing realities of seeking protection in the United States. Sarah C. Bishop argues that cultural differences in communication shape every stage of the asylum process, playing a major but unexamined role.Trade ReviewThis brilliant book features the powerful voices of asylum seekers, government officials who have run the deportation machine, and advocates and researchers who make sense of mass migration. Bishop humanizes the lived experiences of those seeking asylum with stunning emotional depth and insight. A must-read for all who care about immigration. -- Elora Mukherjee, director of the Immigrants’ Rights Clinic at Columbia Law SchoolAll storytelling is cultural. It’s about time Western gatekeepers understood that. With thought-provoking research and moving stories, A Story to Save Your Life is a leap toward that vital education. -- Dina Nayeri, author of The Ungrateful Refugee: What Immigrants Never Tell YouBishop invites us into the room where asylum decisions are made. A Story to Save Your Life is a disturbing account of how everyone from asylum seekers to judges tries to communicate across cultural and bureaucratic barriers in a messy process where the consequences of misinterpretation are devastating. -- David Scott FitzGerald, author of Refuge Beyond Reach: How Rich Democracies Repel Asylum SeekersThis beautifully written book uncovers the problematic ways the legal structures for assessing asylum claims ignore, misinterpret, and otherwise skew the narratives asylum seekers must share to qualify for asylum. Bishop elucidates how the asylum process perpetuates trauma and results in asylum denials of people who should qualify. A Story to Save Your Life is an essential perspective on this vital topic. -- Beth Caldwell, Southwestern Law SchoolThis book is an essential read to better understand the challenges that asylum applicants encounter when sharing their stories. Bishop provides a clear and in-depth analysis of the relationship between communication and asylum outcomes. * Social Forces *Table of ContentsAcknowledgmentsNote on the Cover Art1. Halted ExpectationsIn Their Own Words: Josh Childress, Former U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agent2. Long Stories ShortIn Their Own Words: Alina Das, Immigration Attorney3. Emotional LaborIn Their Own Words: Ethan Taubes, Asylum Officer Trainer4. Nonverbal Communication and CredibilityIn Their Own Words: Dr. Renée Sicalides, Psychologist5. Deterring AsylumIn Their Own Words: Jeffery Chase, Former Immigration Judge6. The ReturnIn Their Own Words: Rafael, Detained Asylum SeekerPostscriptAppendix: Methods and Trauma-Informed Research DesignNotesBibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisChallenging the commonly held perception that immigrants' lives are shaped exclusively by their sending and receiving countries, Here, There, and Elsewhere breaks new ground by showing how immigrants are vectors of globalization who both produce and experience the interconnectedness of societies—not only the societies of origin and destination, but also, the societies in places beyond. Tahseen Shams posits a new concept for thinking about these places that are neither the immigrants' homeland nor hostland—the "elsewhere." Drawing on rich ethnographic data, interviews, and analysis of the social media activities of South Asian Muslim Americans, Shams uncovers how different dimensions of the immigrants' ethnic and religious identities connect them to different elsewheres in places as far-ranging as the Middle East, Europe, and Africa. Yet not all places in the world are elsewheres. How a faraway foreign land becomes salient to the immigrant's sense of self depends on an interplay of global hierarchies, homeland politics, and hostland dynamics. Referencing today's 24-hour news cycle and the ways that social media connects diverse places and peoples at the touch of a screen, Shams traces how the homeland, hostland, and elsewhere combine to affect the ways in which immigrants and their descendants understand themselves and are understood by others. Trade Review"This brilliantly argued, beautifully written book pushes migration studies in an entirely new direction. Identifying a conceptual space located outside both countries of immigration and emigration and to which the immigrants have no direct connection, Shams provides an entirely novel demonstration of how conflicts stemming from the world's 'elsewhere' places shape the collective identity categories available to immigrants and their descendants. An important work, yielding lessons for both scholars and students to savor and ponder." -- Roger Waldinger * University of California, Los Angeles *"This is a tour de force. Combining nuanced ethnography with multi-sited historical analysis, Shams shows how South Asian immigrants' lives in the U.S. are shaped not only by where they come from and where they go, but also by events in third places they have never been. The surprising centrality of these 'elsewheres' is a breakthrough insight in migration studies." -- David Scott FitzGerald * author of Refuge beyond Reach: How Rich Democracies Repel Asylum Seekers *"A significant body of contemporary migration research assumes that a dualistic focus on the country of origin and host society are appropriate for the creation of cutting-edge accounts of contemporary migration. In her study of South Asian Muslims and their descendants settling in California, Tahseen Shams challenges the adequacy of the homeland/hostland approach by demonstrating that depictions of events in migrants' countries of origin as well as those in regions to which these migrants have no connection—such as Syria, Palestine, Nigeria, and Western Europe—significantly influence their acceptance and adjustment. In so doing, Here, There, and Elsewhere advances our approach for understanding migration, resettlement, and transnational phenomena." -- Steven J. Gold * Michigan State University *"In this well-written and timely ethnographic study, Shams draws on her insider knowledge as a first-generation Bangladeshi-American woman to eloquently illustrate how different generations of South Asian Muslims navigate their identities as Muslims....Moving beyond a simple homeland-hostland binary, Shams' book is a welcoming intervention in both theories of assimilation and transnationalism." -- Cristine S. Khan and Van C. Tran * Social Forces *"[A] significant intervention in how we understand immigrants' lived experiences....Shams effectively uses examples from her fieldwork to convey the utility of the multicentered relational framework to various arenas of South Asian Muslim Americans' identity construction, while leaving analytical space for this concept to be further developed through additional case studies of other immigrant groups within and outside of the U.S.A. This is an important book." -- Adrienne Lee Atterberry * South Asian Diaspora *"This well-written book presents new insights and an alternative model for researching immigrant communities, and contributessignificantly to migration, religious, and ethnic studies. Recommended." -- D. A. Chekki * CHOICE *"Here, There, and Elsewhere is pushing the boundaries of immigrant studies by pointing to the importance of global interconnections in understanding immigrant identity and socialization. It is worthy of serious attention by scholars of immigration and ethnic studies." -- Sangay Mishra * Ethnic and Racial Studies *"Tahseen Shams's Here, There, and Elsewhere: The Making of Immigrant Identities in a Globalized World tells an important story about migrants: how migrant communities are interconnected to a host land and homeland, here and there, respectively. This is a compelling and thought-provoking concept, what Shams terms as an 'elsewhere,' that builds upon existing transnational feminist theories, by which Shams illuminates how a place neither 'here' nor 'there' can shape the migrant experience." -- Annie Isabel Fukushima * American Journal of Sociology *"Shams's groundbreaking multicentered relational framework of Here, There, and Elsewhere: The Making of Immigrant Identities in a Globalized World is a model to understand migrants' identity and their sense of belonging beyond the homeland-hostland dyad and the influence of 'Elsewhere.'" -- Sumiya Mahmud * The Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology *"Many scholars have attempted to address integration, assimilation, or enculturation as a way to make sense of the immigrant journey of identity shaping and shift in the hostland. Shams allows us to think on a multidimensional plane where identity can be informed by acts of individual agency, such as supporting Palestine, or acts of protection, such as subscribing to the 'good Muslim' script. These examples are influenced by the history and politics of the home and host countries. Shams allows for immigrants to be seen as individuals, without essentializing their stories based on their Muslimness." -- Ashvina Patel * H-Diplo *Table of ContentsContents and Abstracts1Societies Interconnected chapter abstractThis chapter introduces a new concept for thinking about the places that are neither the immigrants' homeland nor hostland, but which are nonetheless salient in their identity-making processes. Extending the foundational frameworks of international migration that focus exclusively on the dynamics within or between the sending and receiving countries, this chapter provides an overview of the book's key argument—that contrary to dyadic explanations, how immigrants self-identify and how they are identified by others are shaped by geopolitics unfolding in the homeland, hostland, and "elsewhere." The chapter also outlines the book's methodological justifications and sources of data, namely ethnographic observations, interviews, and social media data of sixty South Asian Muslim Americans in California. 2Beyond Here and There: The Multicentered Relational Framework chapter abstract"Elsewhere" does not mean everywhere. Using examples from both contemporary politics and immigration history, this chapter uses a new analytical model—the multicentered relational framework—to show how a faraway foreign place gains salience for an immigrant group and becomes an "elsewhere." Serving as the theoretical spine of the book, this chapter outlines the variations of "elsewhere" and its limitations. The chapter next expounds the three facets of the multicentered relational framework—namely, homeland-hostland, hostland-"elsewhere," and "elsewhere"-homeland—to show how each reveals different dimensions of immigrants' collective identity formation. 3Global Dimensions of Homeland Ties chapter abstractThis chapter shows how immigrants' homeland ties gain global dimensions based on hostland-"elsewhere" interactions. Using examples of Bangladeshi, Pakistani, and Indian immigrants' homeland politics, it shows that the struggles for nation-building in the sending countries are not insulated within just those societies but are instead shaped by their interactions with "elsewheres," specifically the Middle East and Europe. These struggles are at times mirrored among the immigrant communities in America, while some homeland cleavages lose relevance over time. Yet some other homeland boundaries gain life anew as they take on new, globally informed meanings for the immigrants based on hostland sociopolitics and "elsewhere' dynamics. 4The Geopolitics of Being "Good Muslims" in America chapter abstractThis chapter shows how "elsewhere" geopolitics exacerbate social pressures on Muslim and "Muslim-looking" groups in post-9/11 America. Often stereotyped as model minorities based on their race/ethnicity, South Asian Americans, if they are Muslim, are viewed as threats in moments of crisis. Members of this immigrant group often strive to present themselves as "good," "moderate" Muslims and highlighting the universal values they share such as peacefulness. Islamic organizations also highlight the compatibility of Islam with American values by "Islamizing" aspects of American culture on the one hand, and "Americanizing" tenets of Islam on the other. The strategies of individuals can inadvertently lead to political silence, whereas organizational strategies can involve Muslims in U.S. politics, advocating for their interests here and "elsewhere." 5"Muslims in Danger" Both Here and Elsewhere chapter abstractThis chapter traces how and why "elsewhere" gains salience in immigrants' self-identification, at times more than their homelands. Many South Asian Muslim immigrants interpret their collective position in America using examples of "elsewheres" where Muslims are also a stigmatized minority. These "elsewhere" examples combined with the homeland's colonized past, the post-9/11 U.S. context, and ongoing tensions between the hostland United States and the Middle East reinforce the immigrants' worldview that "the West" is biased against "the Muslim world." This perspective leads them to participate politically in ways they believe will favorably impact not only the condition of Muslims in America but also anticolonial efforts of Muslims in the Middle East. These examples of "elsewhere" orientations demonstrate immigrants' long-distance nationalism and political transnationalism. 6Taking Precautions Here for "Muslims in Conflict" Elsewhere chapter abstractBased on analysis of public and participant reactions to six ISIS attacks—two in Europe (Paris and Brussels), two in the Middle East (Beirut and Istanbul), and two in the United States (San Bernardino, California, and Orlando, Florida)—this chapter shows that conflicts in "elsewhere" Europe influence host country perceptions of South Asian Muslims more than the conflicts in the Middle East do. The Islamist attacks in Europe and in the U.S. generated comparable levels of response. Muslims' fear of backlash and the precautions they took for their safety were comparable in each case. Conversely, Islamist attacks in the Middle East generated low levels of reaction, even from Muslims who self-identified with that region. This incongruity is influenced by the media, geopolitics, global discourse on Muslims, and the prevailing public imaginary of the West and the Muslim world. 7Here, There, and Elsewhere chapter abstractThis book presents several questions for migration and race scholars. Does "elsewhere" influence black Muslim identities, or is it an immigrant phenomenon? Are "elsewhere" effects present for predominantly non-Muslim but racialized "Muslim-looking" groups, like Latino/a? With South Asian Muslim Americans responding to Muslim-related contexts in the Middle East, are places in South Asia with Muslim majorities then "elsewheres" for Arab and Middle Eastern Americans? If not, why? How can the multicentered relational framework be used to analyze immigrant identities outside the U.S. context? This concluding chapter reflects on possible answers to these questions and on the political developments unfolding globally.

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Book SynopsisChallenging the commonly held perception that immigrants' lives are shaped exclusively by their sending and receiving countries, Here, There, and Elsewhere breaks new ground by showing how immigrants are vectors of globalization who both produce and experience the interconnectedness of societies—not only the societies of origin and destination, but also, the societies in places beyond. Tahseen Shams posits a new concept for thinking about these places that are neither the immigrants' homeland nor hostland—the "elsewhere." Drawing on rich ethnographic data, interviews, and analysis of the social media activities of South Asian Muslim Americans, Shams uncovers how different dimensions of the immigrants' ethnic and religious identities connect them to different elsewheres in places as far-ranging as the Middle East, Europe, and Africa. Yet not all places in the world are elsewheres. How a faraway foreign land becomes salient to the immigrant's sense of self depends on an interplay of global hierarchies, homeland politics, and hostland dynamics. Referencing today's 24-hour news cycle and the ways that social media connects diverse places and peoples at the touch of a screen, Shams traces how the homeland, hostland, and elsewhere combine to affect the ways in which immigrants and their descendants understand themselves and are understood by others. Trade Review"This brilliantly argued, beautifully written book pushes migration studies in an entirely new direction. Identifying a conceptual space located outside both countries of immigration and emigration and to which the immigrants have no direct connection, Shams provides an entirely novel demonstration of how conflicts stemming from the world's 'elsewhere' places shape the collective identity categories available to immigrants and their descendants. An important work, yielding lessons for both scholars and students to savor and ponder." -- Roger Waldinger * University of California, Los Angeles *"This is a tour de force. Combining nuanced ethnography with multi-sited historical analysis, Shams shows how South Asian immigrants' lives in the U.S. are shaped not only by where they come from and where they go, but also by events in third places they have never been. The surprising centrality of these 'elsewheres' is a breakthrough insight in migration studies." -- David Scott FitzGerald * author of Refuge beyond Reach: How Rich Democracies Repel Asylum Seekers *"A significant body of contemporary migration research assumes that a dualistic focus on the country of origin and host society are appropriate for the creation of cutting-edge accounts of contemporary migration. In her study of South Asian Muslims and their descendants settling in California, Tahseen Shams challenges the adequacy of the homeland/hostland approach by demonstrating that depictions of events in migrants' countries of origin as well as those in regions to which these migrants have no connection—such as Syria, Palestine, Nigeria, and Western Europe—significantly influence their acceptance and adjustment. In so doing, Here, There, and Elsewhere advances our approach for understanding migration, resettlement, and transnational phenomena." -- Steven J. Gold * Michigan State University *"In this well-written and timely ethnographic study, Shams draws on her insider knowledge as a first-generation Bangladeshi-American woman to eloquently illustrate how different generations of South Asian Muslims navigate their identities as Muslims....Moving beyond a simple homeland-hostland binary, Shams' book is a welcoming intervention in both theories of assimilation and transnationalism." -- Cristine S. Khan and Van C. Tran * Social Forces *"[A] significant intervention in how we understand immigrants' lived experiences....Shams effectively uses examples from her fieldwork to convey the utility of the multicentered relational framework to various arenas of South Asian Muslim Americans' identity construction, while leaving analytical space for this concept to be further developed through additional case studies of other immigrant groups within and outside of the U.S.A. This is an important book." -- Adrienne Lee Atterberry * South Asian Diaspora *"This well-written book presents new insights and an alternative model for researching immigrant communities, and contributessignificantly to migration, religious, and ethnic studies. Recommended." -- D. A. Chekki * CHOICE *"Here, There, and Elsewhere is pushing the boundaries of immigrant studies by pointing to the importance of global interconnections in understanding immigrant identity and socialization. It is worthy of serious attention by scholars of immigration and ethnic studies." -- Sangay Mishra * Ethnic and Racial Studies *"Tahseen Shams's Here, There, and Elsewhere: The Making of Immigrant Identities in a Globalized World tells an important story about migrants: how migrant communities are interconnected to a host land and homeland, here and there, respectively. This is a compelling and thought-provoking concept, what Shams terms as an 'elsewhere,' that builds upon existing transnational feminist theories, by which Shams illuminates how a place neither 'here' nor 'there' can shape the migrant experience." -- Annie Isabel Fukushima * American Journal of Sociology *"Shams's groundbreaking multicentered relational framework of Here, There, and Elsewhere: The Making of Immigrant Identities in a Globalized World is a model to understand migrants' identity and their sense of belonging beyond the homeland-hostland dyad and the influence of 'Elsewhere.'" -- Sumiya Mahmud * The Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology *"Many scholars have attempted to address integration, assimilation, or enculturation as a way to make sense of the immigrant journey of identity shaping and shift in the hostland. Shams allows us to think on a multidimensional plane where identity can be informed by acts of individual agency, such as supporting Palestine, or acts of protection, such as subscribing to the 'good Muslim' script. These examples are influenced by the history and politics of the home and host countries. Shams allows for immigrants to be seen as individuals, without essentializing their stories based on their Muslimness." -- Ashvina Patel * H-Diplo *Table of ContentsContents and Abstracts1Societies Interconnected chapter abstractThis chapter introduces a new concept for thinking about the places that are neither the immigrants' homeland nor hostland, but which are nonetheless salient in their identity-making processes. Extending the foundational frameworks of international migration that focus exclusively on the dynamics within or between the sending and receiving countries, this chapter provides an overview of the book's key argument—that contrary to dyadic explanations, how immigrants self-identify and how they are identified by others are shaped by geopolitics unfolding in the homeland, hostland, and "elsewhere." The chapter also outlines the book's methodological justifications and sources of data, namely ethnographic observations, interviews, and social media data of sixty South Asian Muslim Americans in California. 2Beyond Here and There: The Multicentered Relational Framework chapter abstract"Elsewhere" does not mean everywhere. Using examples from both contemporary politics and immigration history, this chapter uses a new analytical model—the multicentered relational framework—to show how a faraway foreign place gains salience for an immigrant group and becomes an "elsewhere." Serving as the theoretical spine of the book, this chapter outlines the variations of "elsewhere" and its limitations. The chapter next expounds the three facets of the multicentered relational framework—namely, homeland-hostland, hostland-"elsewhere," and "elsewhere"-homeland—to show how each reveals different dimensions of immigrants' collective identity formation. 3Global Dimensions of Homeland Ties chapter abstractThis chapter shows how immigrants' homeland ties gain global dimensions based on hostland-"elsewhere" interactions. Using examples of Bangladeshi, Pakistani, and Indian immigrants' homeland politics, it shows that the struggles for nation-building in the sending countries are not insulated within just those societies but are instead shaped by their interactions with "elsewheres," specifically the Middle East and Europe. These struggles are at times mirrored among the immigrant communities in America, while some homeland cleavages lose relevance over time. Yet some other homeland boundaries gain life anew as they take on new, globally informed meanings for the immigrants based on hostland sociopolitics and "elsewhere' dynamics. 4The Geopolitics of Being "Good Muslims" in America chapter abstractThis chapter shows how "elsewhere" geopolitics exacerbate social pressures on Muslim and "Muslim-looking" groups in post-9/11 America. Often stereotyped as model minorities based on their race/ethnicity, South Asian Americans, if they are Muslim, are viewed as threats in moments of crisis. Members of this immigrant group often strive to present themselves as "good," "moderate" Muslims and highlighting the universal values they share such as peacefulness. Islamic organizations also highlight the compatibility of Islam with American values by "Islamizing" aspects of American culture on the one hand, and "Americanizing" tenets of Islam on the other. The strategies of individuals can inadvertently lead to political silence, whereas organizational strategies can involve Muslims in U.S. politics, advocating for their interests here and "elsewhere." 5"Muslims in Danger" Both Here and Elsewhere chapter abstractThis chapter traces how and why "elsewhere" gains salience in immigrants' self-identification, at times more than their homelands. Many South Asian Muslim immigrants interpret their collective position in America using examples of "elsewheres" where Muslims are also a stigmatized minority. These "elsewhere" examples combined with the homeland's colonized past, the post-9/11 U.S. context, and ongoing tensions between the hostland United States and the Middle East reinforce the immigrants' worldview that "the West" is biased against "the Muslim world." This perspective leads them to participate politically in ways they believe will favorably impact not only the condition of Muslims in America but also anticolonial efforts of Muslims in the Middle East. These examples of "elsewhere" orientations demonstrate immigrants' long-distance nationalism and political transnationalism. 6Taking Precautions Here for "Muslims in Conflict" Elsewhere chapter abstractBased on analysis of public and participant reactions to six ISIS attacks—two in Europe (Paris and Brussels), two in the Middle East (Beirut and Istanbul), and two in the United States (San Bernardino, California, and Orlando, Florida)—this chapter shows that conflicts in "elsewhere" Europe influence host country perceptions of South Asian Muslims more than the conflicts in the Middle East do. The Islamist attacks in Europe and in the U.S. generated comparable levels of response. Muslims' fear of backlash and the precautions they took for their safety were comparable in each case. Conversely, Islamist attacks in the Middle East generated low levels of reaction, even from Muslims who self-identified with that region. This incongruity is influenced by the media, geopolitics, global discourse on Muslims, and the prevailing public imaginary of the West and the Muslim world. 7Here, There, and Elsewhere chapter abstractThis book presents several questions for migration and race scholars. Does "elsewhere" influence black Muslim identities, or is it an immigrant phenomenon? Are "elsewhere" effects present for predominantly non-Muslim but racialized "Muslim-looking" groups, like Latino/a? With South Asian Muslim Americans responding to Muslim-related contexts in the Middle East, are places in South Asia with Muslim majorities then "elsewheres" for Arab and Middle Eastern Americans? If not, why? How can the multicentered relational framework be used to analyze immigrant identities outside the U.S. context? This concluding chapter reflects on possible answers to these questions and on the political developments unfolding globally.

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Book SynopsisIn the months leading up to the 2016 presidential election, liberal outcry over ethnonationalist views promoted a vision of America as a nation of immigrants. Given the pervasiveness of this rhetoric, it can be easy to overlook the fact that the immigrant rights movement began in the US relatively recently. This book tells the story of its grassroots origins, through its meteoric rise to the national stage. Starting in the 1990s, the immigrant rights movement slowly cohered over the demand for comprehensive federal reform of immigration policy. Activists called for a new framework of citizenship, arguing that immigrants deserved legal status based on their strong affiliation with American values. During the Obama administration, leaders were granted unprecedented political access and millions of dollars in support. The national spotlight, however, came with unforeseen pressures—growing inequalities between factions and restrictions on challenging mainstream views. Such tradeoffs eventually shattered the united front. The Immigrant Rights Movement tells the story of a vibrant movement to change the meaning of national citizenship, that ultimately became enmeshed in the system that it sought to transform.Trade Review"This book offers a lucid and highly readable analysis of the modern U.S. immigrant rights movement. Systematically documenting the contribution of local struggles in the late 20th century to the movement's national consolidation in the 2000s and its more recent re-fragmentation, Nicholls' behind-the-scenes account carefully exposes the tensions between grassroots immigrant rights activism and national-level realpolitik. An important contribution." -- Ruth Milkman * CUNY Graduate Center, author of L.A. Story: Immigrant Workers and the Future of the U.S. Labor Movement *"The Immigrant Rights Movement's historical and geographic sweep is remarkable: it extends far beyond existing accounts, which tend to either focus on the 2006 protests or to present case studies of immigrant mobilization in one or two places. Theoretically rich and empirically rigorous, the book will set the terms for the debate about the best way forward for the immigrant rights movement for many years to come." -- Kim Voss * University of California, Berkeley *"This timely book explains the successes and challenges of pro-immigration activism in the United States. Its provocative argument raises tough practical and theoretical questions about the political costs of nationalizing and professionalizing social movements." -- David Scott FitzGerald * author of Refuge beyond Reach: How Rich Democracies Repel Asylum Seekers *"In this daring volume Nicholls looks beyond the achievements and failures of the ever-developing immigrant rights' movement in the US to explore how the movement has changed the discourse, the scope, and the descriptive nature of national citizenship....In this highly accessible and readable book, Nicholls weaves together political and social theory throughout, making this text especially useful for classroom incorporation. Highly recommended." -- R. A. Harper * CHOICE *"Future research could easily build on Nicholls's brilliant work....Rigorously corroborated, theoretically inspiring, and yet impressively readable, this book has much to offer students and scholars at all levels." -- Kevin Lee * Journal of Urban Affairs *"Nicholls's meticulous institutional analysis spans decades....the book offers us an invaluable critique of nationalism itself." -- Miranda C. Hallett * American Ethnologist *"The Immigrant Rights Movement is a must-read for anyone interested in migration rights, social movements, and the institutional reproduction of inequality. Nicholls provides an array of qualitative data, different forms of data presentation, and thought-provoking arguments about the constraints and opportunities of social movements. Though focused on immigration, this timely book generates broad reflection on the relationship between social movements and philanthropy, and debates about how disciplining a social movement occurs through the political elite." -- Blanca Ramirez * Mobilization *"Nicholls's book convincingly highlights a key paradox that advocates and activists face when moving into the political field: the same conditions that allowed immigrant rights movements to become a political force wound up binding the movement to the very system it sought to change." -- Ana Hontanilla * Latin American Research Review *Table of ContentsContents and AbstractsIntroduction chapter abstractThe introduction provides readers with a basic overview of the book's central concepts and arguments. It suggests that today's immigrant rights movement has its roots in local battles scattered throughout the country. It maps out how these local fights emerged and goes on to discuss their aggregation into a national social movement. 1The Rights of Immigrants in the Nation chapter abstractSome scholars have argued that globalization and transnational migration have weakened the importance of national citizenship. This theoretical chapter addresses this central issue. It suggests that national citizenship is still very much intact and constrains how immigrant rights activists develop their claims and demands. By engaging with various literatures including citizenship studies, social movement, and immigration, the chapter aims to explain the continued caging powers of the nation state over the thoughts, words, and actions of activists. 2Suburbia Must be Defended chapter abstractThe chapter explores the local conditions that helped give rise to ethnonational arguments by examining local responses to immigrant day laborers. By drawing on materials from the 1990s, the chapter maintains that the public assembly of Latino immigrants on street corners disrupted the everyday life suburban residents. Such disruptions propelled thousands of people to step in and debate the meanings of citizenship. From this cauldron of conflicting passions emerged a particular understanding of citizenship that was ethnonationalist, exclusionary, and revanchist. This was an ethnic understanding of citizenship backed by an increasingly violent and exclusionary state. 3Resisting Ethnonationalism, One Town at a Time chapter abstractThe chapter examines how pro-immigrant groups bubbled up in suburban towns around the county and pushed back on their anti-immigrant neighbors. It does so by first describing early resistances by day laborers and their diverse range of supporters. The chapter goes on to describe how some local mobilizations snow-balled into sizeable struggles mostly anchored by regional immigrant rights organizations. The chapter finishes by showing how many campaigns succeeded in stopping many restrictive ordinances. 4Regionalizing the Fight for Immigrant Rights: The Case of Los Angeles chapter abstractMetropolitan Los Angeles is used as a case to illustrate how immigrant rights activism shifted to the regional scale. The chapter begins with a very local conflict over day laborers in the suburb of Pasadena. It examines how highly precarious immigrants stepped out of the proverbial shadows to resist their criminalization in the city. Following this discussion, the chapter proceeds to a discussion of the regionalization of the struggle. Center for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA) played a pivotal role in connecting and coordinating battles unfolding across the metropolitan area. 5The Resurgent Nation State chapter abstractFrom the mid 1990s onwards, the federal government became increasingly active in the area of immigration. It passed more restrictive laws and policies and invested more money in enforcement. Moreover, elected officials began to talk more about immigration and immigration reform than ever. The federal government's symbolic and legal power were overwhelming in shaping the parameters of national citizenship. For immigrant rights activists who had spent their formative years in local political trenches, it became increasingly important to shift scale and enter national politics. 6Entering the Field of National Citizenship chapter abstractThe chapter addresses the shift to national politics by examining the creation of a countrywide social movement infrastructure. Well-endowed and politically connected national organizations worked with prominent local organizations to form a string of new coalitions with national-level reach. The primary goal of these coalitions was to create a vehicle to pursue comprehensive immigration reform. Washington D.C.-based organizations sat at the helm of the coalitions and reached out to local organizations in immigrant rich metropolitan areas. These organizations co-sponsored meetings, trainings, and other events. The coalitions fashioned new instruments (organizations, networks, communication networks, trainings and workshops) to transmit understandings about rights, immigration reform, and citizenship from the centers of power (Washington D.C.) to immigrant communities around the country. 7Money Makes the Movement chapter abstractThe funding pie grew much larger in the 2000s and 2010s. The financial bounty enabled leading organizations to create the infrastructure underlying the mainstream immigrant rights movement. They could afford to undertake costly communications research. They had the resources to generate training materials and run local workshops in localities across the country. Well-resourced organizations could afford to lobby national politicians and develop relations with political elite. The infusion of money enabled an unprecedented level of coordination, but the wealth and professionalization of national organizations contributed to sharpening inequalities and a veritable class divide in the social movement. 8A Seat at the Table chapter abstractThe Obama administration provided advocacy organizations extraordinary access. The leading organizations had many meetings with White House officials and congressional leaders. Strong ties with federal policymakers and politicians also provided movement leaders with direct access to valuable information. Access did not, however, result in much political influence. During a period of unprecedented access, the Obama White House did not prioritize comprehensive immigration reform during its first term. The White House and its Senate allies believed that they needed to burnish their deportation credentials in order to win broad support from reluctant Republicans. Between 2009 and 2013, the Obama administration removed approximately 400,000 unauthorized immigrants a year. Thus, in spite of its enormous reservoirs of political capital, the leadership of the immigrant rights movement was not able exercise great influence over federal immigration policy. 9Making Immigrants American chapter abstractThis chapter examine how the movement generated public representations of immigrants in their battle for comprehensive immigration reform. Entry into the national field precipitated a process of selecting one master frame (liberal nationalism) over others (territorial personhood, postnationalism). Following the failure to pass immigration reform in 2007, the leadership initiated a broad campaign to change how Americans viewed immigrants. They set out to generate a disciplined message that would resonate with hearts and minds of average Americans. Liberal nationalism provided advocates with the language, ideas, sentiments, and narratives to effectively construct a message of immigrant deservingness. America was, they argued, a nation of immigrants and immigrants possessed essential attributes (assimilated in norms and culture, contributing, innocent) that made them deserving of membership. Conclusion: Where We Stand chapter abstractThe concluding chapter assesses the challenges facing the immigrant rights movement in the Trump era. It suggests that new political challenges have contributed to further splintering the movement. The chapter also describes how the new difficulties are rooted in problems that had metastasized over the previous fifteen years.

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Book SynopsisIn the months leading up to the 2016 presidential election, liberal outcry over ethnonationalist views promoted a vision of America as a nation of immigrants. Given the pervasiveness of this rhetoric, it can be easy to overlook the fact that the immigrant rights movement began in the US relatively recently. This book tells the story of its grassroots origins, through its meteoric rise to the national stage. Starting in the 1990s, the immigrant rights movement slowly cohered over the demand for comprehensive federal reform of immigration policy. Activists called for a new framework of citizenship, arguing that immigrants deserved legal status based on their strong affiliation with American values. During the Obama administration, leaders were granted unprecedented political access and millions of dollars in support. The national spotlight, however, came with unforeseen pressures—growing inequalities between factions and restrictions on challenging mainstream views. Such tradeoffs eventually shattered the united front. The Immigrant Rights Movement tells the story of a vibrant movement to change the meaning of national citizenship, that ultimately became enmeshed in the system that it sought to transform.Trade Review"This book offers a lucid and highly readable analysis of the modern U.S. immigrant rights movement. Systematically documenting the contribution of local struggles in the late 20th century to the movement's national consolidation in the 2000s and its more recent re-fragmentation, Nicholls' behind-the-scenes account carefully exposes the tensions between grassroots immigrant rights activism and national-level realpolitik. An important contribution." -- Ruth Milkman * CUNY Graduate Center, author of L.A. Story: Immigrant Workers and the Future of the U.S. Labor Movement *"The Immigrant Rights Movement's historical and geographic sweep is remarkable: it extends far beyond existing accounts, which tend to either focus on the 2006 protests or to present case studies of immigrant mobilization in one or two places. Theoretically rich and empirically rigorous, the book will set the terms for the debate about the best way forward for the immigrant rights movement for many years to come." -- Kim Voss * University of California, Berkeley *"This timely book explains the successes and challenges of pro-immigration activism in the United States. Its provocative argument raises tough practical and theoretical questions about the political costs of nationalizing and professionalizing social movements." -- David Scott FitzGerald * author of Refuge beyond Reach: How Rich Democracies Repel Asylum Seekers *"In this daring volume Nicholls looks beyond the achievements and failures of the ever-developing immigrant rights' movement in the US to explore how the movement has changed the discourse, the scope, and the descriptive nature of national citizenship....In this highly accessible and readable book, Nicholls weaves together political and social theory throughout, making this text especially useful for classroom incorporation. Highly recommended." -- R. A. Harper * CHOICE *"Future research could easily build on Nicholls's brilliant work....Rigorously corroborated, theoretically inspiring, and yet impressively readable, this book has much to offer students and scholars at all levels." -- Kevin Lee * Journal of Urban Affairs *"Nicholls's meticulous institutional analysis spans decades....the book offers us an invaluable critique of nationalism itself." -- Miranda C. Hallett * American Ethnologist *"The Immigrant Rights Movement is a must-read for anyone interested in migration rights, social movements, and the institutional reproduction of inequality. Nicholls provides an array of qualitative data, different forms of data presentation, and thought-provoking arguments about the constraints and opportunities of social movements. Though focused on immigration, this timely book generates broad reflection on the relationship between social movements and philanthropy, and debates about how disciplining a social movement occurs through the political elite." -- Blanca Ramirez * Mobilization *"Nicholls's book convincingly highlights a key paradox that advocates and activists face when moving into the political field: the same conditions that allowed immigrant rights movements to become a political force wound up binding the movement to the very system it sought to change." -- Ana Hontanilla * Latin American Research Review *Table of ContentsContents and AbstractsIntroduction chapter abstractThe introduction provides readers with a basic overview of the book's central concepts and arguments. It suggests that today's immigrant rights movement has its roots in local battles scattered throughout the country. It maps out how these local fights emerged and goes on to discuss their aggregation into a national social movement. 1The Rights of Immigrants in the Nation chapter abstractSome scholars have argued that globalization and transnational migration have weakened the importance of national citizenship. This theoretical chapter addresses this central issue. It suggests that national citizenship is still very much intact and constrains how immigrant rights activists develop their claims and demands. By engaging with various literatures including citizenship studies, social movement, and immigration, the chapter aims to explain the continued caging powers of the nation state over the thoughts, words, and actions of activists. 2Suburbia Must be Defended chapter abstractThe chapter explores the local conditions that helped give rise to ethnonational arguments by examining local responses to immigrant day laborers. By drawing on materials from the 1990s, the chapter maintains that the public assembly of Latino immigrants on street corners disrupted the everyday life suburban residents. Such disruptions propelled thousands of people to step in and debate the meanings of citizenship. From this cauldron of conflicting passions emerged a particular understanding of citizenship that was ethnonationalist, exclusionary, and revanchist. This was an ethnic understanding of citizenship backed by an increasingly violent and exclusionary state. 3Resisting Ethnonationalism, One Town at a Time chapter abstractThe chapter examines how pro-immigrant groups bubbled up in suburban towns around the county and pushed back on their anti-immigrant neighbors. It does so by first describing early resistances by day laborers and their diverse range of supporters. The chapter goes on to describe how some local mobilizations snow-balled into sizeable struggles mostly anchored by regional immigrant rights organizations. The chapter finishes by showing how many campaigns succeeded in stopping many restrictive ordinances. 4Regionalizing the Fight for Immigrant Rights: The Case of Los Angeles chapter abstractMetropolitan Los Angeles is used as a case to illustrate how immigrant rights activism shifted to the regional scale. The chapter begins with a very local conflict over day laborers in the suburb of Pasadena. It examines how highly precarious immigrants stepped out of the proverbial shadows to resist their criminalization in the city. Following this discussion, the chapter proceeds to a discussion of the regionalization of the struggle. Center for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA) played a pivotal role in connecting and coordinating battles unfolding across the metropolitan area. 5The Resurgent Nation State chapter abstractFrom the mid 1990s onwards, the federal government became increasingly active in the area of immigration. It passed more restrictive laws and policies and invested more money in enforcement. Moreover, elected officials began to talk more about immigration and immigration reform than ever. The federal government's symbolic and legal power were overwhelming in shaping the parameters of national citizenship. For immigrant rights activists who had spent their formative years in local political trenches, it became increasingly important to shift scale and enter national politics. 6Entering the Field of National Citizenship chapter abstractThe chapter addresses the shift to national politics by examining the creation of a countrywide social movement infrastructure. Well-endowed and politically connected national organizations worked with prominent local organizations to form a string of new coalitions with national-level reach. The primary goal of these coalitions was to create a vehicle to pursue comprehensive immigration reform. Washington D.C.-based organizations sat at the helm of the coalitions and reached out to local organizations in immigrant rich metropolitan areas. These organizations co-sponsored meetings, trainings, and other events. The coalitions fashioned new instruments (organizations, networks, communication networks, trainings and workshops) to transmit understandings about rights, immigration reform, and citizenship from the centers of power (Washington D.C.) to immigrant communities around the country. 7Money Makes the Movement chapter abstractThe funding pie grew much larger in the 2000s and 2010s. The financial bounty enabled leading organizations to create the infrastructure underlying the mainstream immigrant rights movement. They could afford to undertake costly communications research. They had the resources to generate training materials and run local workshops in localities across the country. Well-resourced organizations could afford to lobby national politicians and develop relations with political elite. The infusion of money enabled an unprecedented level of coordination, but the wealth and professionalization of national organizations contributed to sharpening inequalities and a veritable class divide in the social movement. 8A Seat at the Table chapter abstractThe Obama administration provided advocacy organizations extraordinary access. The leading organizations had many meetings with White House officials and congressional leaders. Strong ties with federal policymakers and politicians also provided movement leaders with direct access to valuable information. Access did not, however, result in much political influence. During a period of unprecedented access, the Obama White House did not prioritize comprehensive immigration reform during its first term. The White House and its Senate allies believed that they needed to burnish their deportation credentials in order to win broad support from reluctant Republicans. Between 2009 and 2013, the Obama administration removed approximately 400,000 unauthorized immigrants a year. Thus, in spite of its enormous reservoirs of political capital, the leadership of the immigrant rights movement was not able exercise great influence over federal immigration policy. 9Making Immigrants American chapter abstractThis chapter examine how the movement generated public representations of immigrants in their battle for comprehensive immigration reform. Entry into the national field precipitated a process of selecting one master frame (liberal nationalism) over others (territorial personhood, postnationalism). Following the failure to pass immigration reform in 2007, the leadership initiated a broad campaign to change how Americans viewed immigrants. They set out to generate a disciplined message that would resonate with hearts and minds of average Americans. Liberal nationalism provided advocates with the language, ideas, sentiments, and narratives to effectively construct a message of immigrant deservingness. America was, they argued, a nation of immigrants and immigrants possessed essential attributes (assimilated in norms and culture, contributing, innocent) that made them deserving of membership. Conclusion: Where We Stand chapter abstractThe concluding chapter assesses the challenges facing the immigrant rights movement in the Trump era. It suggests that new political challenges have contributed to further splintering the movement. The chapter also describes how the new difficulties are rooted in problems that had metastasized over the previous fifteen years.

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