Movement or moment? Lessons from the pro-immigrant movement in the United States and contemporary challenges

Abstract

This introduction to the special issue takes stock of the current state of the pro-immigrant movement in the United States. It begins by reflecting back on the massive demonstrations for immigrant rights that swept the U.S. in 2006 and considers whether they should be seen as one episode in a broad, long-term immigrant movement, or just a remarkable but ephemeral moment of spontaneous political action. We contend that a true social movement on behalf of immigrants exists in the United States, with an arc of successes and failures over time. Using both an empirical and theoretical lens, we draw on the interdisciplinary articles in this volume to examine the movement in the years since the 2006 protests. We note that existing scholarship on social movements has not yet fully grappled with the way citizenship and migration status challenge core concepts in the field, and we advance that project. We end by speculating on what might be unique to the United States, and what more general lessons we can draw to better understand the successes and failures, as well as future prospects, of mobilisation and advocacy by and on behalf of immigrants, in the United States and elsewhere.

Going national: how the fight for immigrant rights became a national social movement

“…This article has analysed the process by which local struggles for immigrant rights became a national social movement (cf. Bloemraad and Voss, 2020). This was by no means a natural or easy process.…”

“…By the early 2010s, the immigrant rights movement had developed into a full-fledged nationwide social movement, as described in the introduction to this volume (Bloemraad and Voss 2020). A coherent leadership group had access to millions of dollars in funding.…”

Voces en los campos. Trabajadores agrícolas migrantes durante la Covid-19 en España y nuevas formas de activismo por la dignidad

“…Beyond some pioneering studies (Mezzadra, 2004;Tyler and Marciniak, 2014), Isin's contribution on "acts of citizenship" (Isin, 2008) and its analytical wake in the more recent literature on the mobilization of undocumented migrants, anti-deportation movements or struggles against border regimes, has been the most important contribution in the migration studies field (McNevin, 2011;Nyers and Rygiel, 2012;Barbero, 2012;Ataç, Rygiel, and Stierl, 2017). Despite recent bridges built between the two literatures (Steinhilper, 2021;Bloemraad and Voss, 2020) and the promise it offers, research remains highly fragmented across different fields. The common elements emanate more from the research agenda, without being exhaustive: labor rights, access to legal status and citizenship in the case of undocumented migrants and refugees, anti-internment and anti-deportation movements, border regimes, the "right to the city", and more recently, civil society solidarity.…”

The role of minority discrimination and political participation in shaping majority perceptions of discrimination: Two cross-national studies

“…However, ethno-racial minority members have less access to these norm-setting mechanisms and institutions (Dancygier et al, 2015; Pilati & Morales, 2016; Zapata-Barrero, 2017). In contrast, nonelectoral forms of political participation, for example, protests, boycotts, and petitions are more accessible also to immigrant-origin and ethnic minority members (Bloemraad & Voss, 2019; Martiniello, 2006; Verkuyten, 2016). Nonelectoral political participation can thus be a means to drawing attention to minority discrimination, disadvantage, or other intergroup issues (Jiménez-Moya et al, 2019; Louis, 2009; Sanchez-Mazas, 2018).…”