Pursuing Citizenship in the Enforcement Era
Pursuing Citizenship in the Enforcement Era provides readers with the everyday perspectives of immigrants on what it is like to try to integrate into American society during a time when immigration policy is focused on enforcement and exclusion.
The law says that everyone who is not a citizen is an alien. But the social reality is more complicated. Ming Hsu Chen argues that the citizen/alien binary should instead be reframed as a spectrum of citizenship, a concept that emphasizes continuities between the otherwise distinct experiences of membership and belonging for immigrants seeking to become citizens. To understand citizenship from the perspective of noncitizens, this book utilizes interviews with more than one-hundred immigrants of varying legal statuses about their attempts to integrate economically, socially, politically, and legally during a modern era of intense immigration enforcement. Studying the experiences of green card holders, refugees, military service members, temporary workers, international students, and undocumented immigrants uncovers the common plight that underlies their distinctions: limited legal status breeds a sense of citizenship insecurity for all immigrants that inhibits their full integration into society. Bringing together theories of citizenship with empirical data on integration and analysis of contemporary policy, Chen builds a case that formal citizenship status matters more than ever during times of enforcement and argues for constructing pathways to citizenship that enhance both formal and substantive equality of immigrants.
"As much critique as corrective vision, Ming Chen's powerful book brings us revelatory conversations with immigrants seeking to become citizens. Their experiences, frustrations, and dreams shine sharp spotlights on the official barriers they face—and on our shared humanity."—Ian F. Haney López, University of California, Berkeley
"Pursuing Citizenship in the Enforcement Era offers a nuanced analysis of the complex relationship between the legal status of citizenship and real belonging to U.S. society. Drawing on wide-ranging interviews, Ming Chen shows how overemphasizing immigration enforcement undermines the integration of immigrants and their potential to make society more cohesive. This is trail-blazing scholarship on how immigrants become citizens."—Hiroshi Motomura, UCLA School of Law
"Chen makes a compelling case that federal government can and should do more—much more—to integrate its residents by supporting access to citizenship. With a clear-eyed picture of the functional benefits of formal citizenship, this book offers a thoughtful policy roadmap for achieving that goal."—Jennifer Chacón, UCLA School of Law
"Chen here demands that we migration scholars stake a deeper claim in the changes that are needed to ensure all of our well-being.Pursuing Citizenshipis an essential read for all of us committed to accepting that challenge."—Shannon Gleeson, Criminal Law and Criminal Justice Books
"Pursuing Citizenship in the Enforcement Era provides a powerful account of the struggles that many noncitizens and their families faced during the increased immigration enforcement of the Trump era... Chen offers a strong defense of formal citizenship, particularly in contexts where immigration enforcement is prioritized, because of its impact on one's sense of equality and community membership."—Rose Cuison-Villazor, Michigan Law Review
