Immigrant Rights in the Shadows of Citizenship

Part IV: Questions of Democracy

283 Part IV Questions of Democracy Questions of immigrant rights are essentially questions about democracy and citizenship. By advocating for their rights as citizens and noncitizens, immigrants have transformed the nature of U.S. democracy since the early twentieth century. What rights do migrants across national boundaries possess? If, as t-shirts at the marches during the spring of 2006 proclaimed, “no human being is illegal,” what does this mean? Are immigrant claims to equal opportunity to be staked in terms of human rights, or are the rights of immigrants , documented or not, a key component of national citizenship? This section addresses these questions. In chapter 12, the lead article for this section, legal scholar Victor Romero explores “the federal-state divide” in immigration policy. While the federal government has the power to regulate immigration, local governments implement regulations governing the lives of citizens, legal residents , and undocumented migrants. The U.S. Supreme Court has resisted efforts, like the one made by the state of Texas in Plyler v. Doe in 1982 or in California by the passage of Proposition 187 in 1994, to deny equal protection to noncitizens. On the other hand, particularly in recent years, many local governments have responded to the presence of immigrants in places like Hazleton, Pennsylvania; New Haven, Connecticut; and Green Bay, Wisconsin, by implementing policies designed in some cases to affirm their presence, and in others, to limit their rights. Romero explores the tension between such local initiatives and federal policy in the context of contemporary debates over immigration policy. 284 part iv Following Romero’s contribution, chapter 13 looks at a specific aspect of conflict between federal and local policies over the rights of immigrants. Although federal law currently defines undocumented students as foreign for the purposes of public university admission, ten states have passed statutes allowing undocumented students who graduate from high school in their states to attend their colleges and universities as in-state residents. The essay explores the ways in which students have organized to advocate for such policies. While a federal DREAM (Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors) bill has been introduced without being passed more than once in the Senate, many states and immigrant rights advocates have acted independently to ensure the access of immigrant students to higher education and opportunity. In chapter 14, historian Jeanne Petit moves the focus on immigration and democracy back in time, examining the ways that American Catholics in the early twentieth century advocated for the rights of Catholic immigrants . This advocacy, she argues, led members of the National Catholic Welfare Congress to expand their ideas of citizenship, leading them away from the focus on racial fitness popular with restrictionists at the time and toward an expansive idea of democracy and inclusion. Petit’s argument makes clear parallels to the contemporary position of Catholic leaders like Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahoney, who calls on Catholics to offer humanitarian aid to all migrants, regardless of legal status. In chapter 15, Fred Tsao, Policy Director for the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR), looks at the ways in which different communities define their identities and strategize for survival. He writes of the ways diverse immigrant groups in the Chicago area have found common cause in the struggles for legalization and access to citizenship and political power. Chicago’s substantial Latino, Muslim, Arab, Polish, African, and Irish communities have realized that many of the specific community issues facing each group are actually connected to those faced by other communities in the area. Tsao documents the successes of the alliances formed by diverse immigrants in Illinois and discusses the ways in which such coalitions are transforming the politics of the state. Tsao’s contribution is followed by ICIRR’s announcement of a drive for naturalization and voter registration, a major component of ICIRR’s work to aid legal permanent residents to become citizens and vote. Along with the documents from the National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Questions of Democracy 285 Rights in Part I, this document provides a broad context in which to understand immigrant political organization. In chapter 16, the final article for this section, immigration lawyer and legal scholar David Cole traces the restrictions on civil liberties for immigrants since the bombing of the World Trade Center in 2001. Focusing on the treatment of immigrants from the Middle East since 9/11, he argues that the pursuit of...