Lecture Notes: Making of Illegals - History, Law & Everyday Life PDF

_ (Lecture Notes) Making of Illegals: History, Law & Everyday life _ ** ** ** Q: What is the historical construction of “illegal aliens” in the United States? ** 1. The numerical quota sy...

_ (Lecture Notes) Making of Illegals: History, Law & Everyday life _ ** ** ** Q: What is the historical construction of “illegal aliens” in the United States? ** 1. The numerical quota system & mass deportation (creation of land Border Patrol) meaning there is a inchoate emphasis on official documentation and formal status 2. Debates on deserving / undeserving illegal immigrants and just or unjust deporations meaning amnesty is given through administrative process: “Just as restriction & deportation ‘made’ ** illegal aliens, administrative discretion ‘unmade’ illegal aliens” ** 3. Racialization of illegality through discriminatory application of legalization programs & administrative discretion: European and Canadian immigrants vs. Mexican immigrants _ _ ** The 1965 Reform (p.187) ** The abolition of the national origin quota system The first introduction of the numericla quota on immigrants from the western hemisphere ** 1986 IRCA (p.187) ** One-time amnesty for long-term residents without criminal records Employment sanctions weak enforcement ** 1990s (p.187): Restrictive legislations in admissions, deportation, access to social welfare ** ** 2000s: “crimmigration” (p.187-188) ** ** Illegality Trap: Consequences ** ** Q: What are the consequences? ** 1. == Overwhelming emphasis on enforcement — Congress enacted the illegal immigration reform & == immigrant responsibility act & the antiterrorism and effective death penalty act in 1996. Overall these laws have expanded the categories of immigrants subject to deportation, restricted the ability of immigrants to appeal deportation and increased the crimes for which immigrants could be deported. (Example of crimmigration) ** ** 5 years following the acts of 9/11, congress enacts the USA patriot act which restricted _** **_ immigrants’ civil liberties by creating new grounds for deportation & making it easier for federal officals to detain foreign born individuals suspected of being terrorism. Overall crimminalization of immigration & how undocumented immigrants are potrayed made it more difficult for politicians to speak out against immigration enforcement activities or for them to offer alternatives. 2. == Legislative gridlock leading to the failure of comprehensive immigration reform — There’s been == disagreements on what to do regarding the millions of undocumented residents in the United  States to the point the issue has become “deep-seated” in congress and grid-locked even ** ** regarding legalizing only specific groups of immigrants such as students (think the DREAM act) ** ** and agricultural workers (think AgJOBS) ** ** 3. == Constitutional conflict resulting from greater state and local policy activism around the problem of undocumented immigration — Overall congress failing to enact a legislative fix to the illegal == immigration problem has led to state & local governments to fill the federal policy void with their own laws on immigration. 4. == The absense of federal policies devoted to immigrant integration — There are very few == resources for the societal integration of both legal immigrants & undocumented migrants who have lived, worked, and paid taxes in the United States. Even if the federal government has managed to grant legal permanent residency to 1 million people it has very limited responsibility for immigrants integrating, usually immigrants are expected to use their own resources such as family, friendship, networks, and local community organizations / local government services to survive & thrive in the United States (Minimal support from the federal government to find emploment, participation in civic and political life, etc.) ** Illegality: Reformulated… ** Illegality vs. Criminality Different forms and degrees of illegality Differential salience of illegality over life courses Not an either / or category but a contigent status, the dividing line of which remains fuzzy: examples from previous and current readings or other class materials? #SOC204