The DREAMers: How the Undocumented Youth Movement Transformed the Immigrant Rights Debate

On May 17, 2010, four undocumented students occupied the Arizona office of Senator John McCain. Across the country a flurry of occupations, hunger strikes, demonstrations, and marches followed, calling for support of the DREAM Act that would allow these young people the legal right to stay in the United States. The highly public, confrontational nature of these actions marked a sharp departure from more subdued, anonymous forms of activism of years past. The DREAMers provides the first investigation of the youth movement that has transformed the national immigration debate, from its start in the early 2000s through the present day. Walter Nicholls draws on interviews, news stories, and firsthand encounters with activists to highlight the strategies and claims that have created this now-powerful voice in American politics. Facing high levels of anti-immigrant sentiment across the country, undocumented youths sought to increase support for their cause and change the terms of debate by arguing for their unique position―as culturally integrated, long term residents and most importantly as "American" youth sharing in core American values. Since 2010 undocumented activists have increasingly claimed their own space in the public sphere, asserting a right to recognition―a right to have rights. Ultimately, through the story of the undocumented youth movement, The DREAMers shows how a stigmatized group―whether immigrants or others―can gain a powerful voice in American political debate.

Politics & Social Sciences

Nicholls, Walter J.

Social Sciences

Stanford University Press

On May 17, 2010, four undocumented students occupied the Arizona office of Senator John McCain. Across the country a flurry of occupations, hunger strikes, demonstrations, and marches followed, calling for support of the DREAM Act that would allow these young people the legal right to stay in the United States. The highly public, confrontational nature of these actions marked a sharp departure from more subdued, anonymous forms of activism of years past. The DREAMers provides the first investigation of the youth movement that has transformed the national immigration debate, from its start in the early 2000s through the present day. Walter Nicholls draws on interviews, news stories, and firsthand encounters with activists to highlight the strategies and claims that have created this now-powerful voice in American politics. Facing high levels of anti-immigrant sentiment across the country, undocumented youths sought to increase support for their cause and change the terms of debate by arguing for their unique position—as culturally integrated, long term residents and most importantly as "American" youth sharing in core American values. Since 2010 undocumented activists have increasingly claimed their own space in the public sphere, asserting a right to recognition—a right to have rights. Ultimately, through the story of the undocumented youth movement, The DREAMers shows how a stigmatized group—whether immigrants or others—can gain a powerful voice in American political debate.

Cities and Social Movements: Immigrant Rights Activism in the US, France, and the Netherlands, 1970-2015 (Studies in Urban and Social Change)

Wiley/Blackwell

Cities and Social Movements: Immigrant Rights Activism in the US, France, and the Netherlands, 1970-2015 (IJURR Studies in Urban and Social Change Book Series)

Through historical and comparative research on the immigrant rights movements of the United States, France and the Netherlands, Cities and Social Movements examines how small resistances against restrictive immigration policies do – or don’t – develop into large and sustained mobilizations. <ul>
<li>Presents a comprehensive, comparative analysis of immigrant rights politics in three countries over a period of five decades, providing vivid accounts of the processes through which immigrants activists challenged or confirmed the status quo</li> <li>Theorizes movements from the bottom-up, presenting an urban grassroots account in order to identify how movement networks emerge or fall apart</li> <li>Provides a unique contribution by examining how geography is implicated in the evolution of social movements, discovering how and why the networks constituting movements grow by tracing where they develop</li> <li>Demonstrates how efforts to enforce national borders trigger countless resistances and shows how some environments provide the relational opportunities to nurture these small resistances into sustained mobilizations</li> <li>Written to appeal to a broad audience of students, scholars, policy makers, and activists, without sacrificing theoretical rigor</li> </ul>

Uitermark, Justus

Sociology

The Immigrant Rights Movement: The Battle over National Citizenship

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 Product Description In 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 Oba

In 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.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Nicholls, Walter J.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Nicholls, Walter J.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Nicholls, Walter J.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The DREAMers: How the Undocumented Youth Movement Transformed the Immigrant Rights Debate

The DREAMers: How the Undocumented Youth Movement Transformed the Immigrant Rights Debate

Cities and Social Movements: Immigrant Rights Activism in the US, France, and the Netherlands, 1970-2015 (Studies in Urban and Social Change)

Cities and Social Movements: Immigrant Rights Activism in the US, France, and the Netherlands, 1970-2015 (IJURR Studies in Urban and Social Change Book Series)

Cities and Social Movements: Immigrant Rights Activism in the US, France, and the Netherlands, 1970-2015 (IJURR Studies in Urban and Social Change Book Series)

The Immigrant Rights Movement: The Battle over National Citizenship

The Immigrant Rights Movement: The Battle over National Citizenship