‘They come here to work’: an evaluation of the economic argument in favor of immigrant rights

Abstract

Advocates commonly highlight the exploitation that hard-working undocumented immigrants commonly suffer at the hands of employers, the important contribution they make to the US economy, and the fiscal folly of border militarization and enhanced immigration enforcement policies. In this paper, I unpack these economic rationales for expanding immigrant rights, and examine the nuanced ways in which advocates deploy this frame. To do so, I rely on statements issued by publicly present immigrant rights groups in six places: California, Florida, Illinois, New York, Texas, and Washington, DC. I also draw on interviews with immigrant advocates in San Jose, CA and Houston, TX, press releases from two alternative national immigrant rights organizations, and an ethnographic photo-documentation of immigrant rights mobilizations in 2012-2014. Economic rationales, I emphasize, can be found in each of these contexts, but are not mutually exclusive to other justifications, including narratives about civil, human, and family rights for immigrants. However, I argue that an economic framing of immigrant rights nonetheless runs the risk reifying work over conventional understandings of criminality, often relies on a narrow definition of economic worth, and could have negative consequences for coalition building. Advocates commonly highlight the exploitation that hard-working undocumented immigrants commonly suffer at the hands of employers, the important contribution they make to the US economy, and the fiscal folly of border militarization and enhanced immigration enforcement policies. In this paper, I unpack these economic rationales for expanding immigrant rights, and examine the nuanced ways in which advocates deploy this frame. To do so, I rely on statements issued by publicly present immigrant rights groups in six places: California, Florida, Illinois, New York, Texas, and Washington, DC. I also draw on interviews with immigrant advocates in San Jose, CA and Houston, TX, press releases from two alternative national immigrant rights organizations, and an ethnographic photo-documentation of immigrant rights mobilizations in 2012-2014. Economic rationales, I emphasize, can be found in each of these contexts, but are not mutually exclusive to other justifications, including narratives about civil, human, and family rights for immigrants. However, I argue that an economic framing of immigrant rights nonetheless runs the risk reifying work over conventional understandings of criminality, often relies on a narrow definition of economic worth, and could have negative consequences for coalition building.

“Of Course We Need to Help the Undocumented Immigrants!”: Twitter Discourse on the (Un)deservingness of Undocumented Immigrants in the United States during the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…The most relevant frames for this study are the economic (financial consequences of immigration), threat (personal, societal, or cultural risk), human impact (humanizing immigrants), and morality (moral/ethical duty to help immigrants) frames (Lindström 2017). Previous studies have shown that these frames, especially the economic and human impact/rights frames are common and salient in pro-immigrant discourse (Gleeson 2015).…”

From ‘elites’ to ‘everyone': re-framing international mobility scholarship to be all-encompassing

“…We urge scholars to explore more specifically through empirical and theoretical studies the tension that exists between government policies, labor rights and the enforcement of labor laws (Gleeson 2015a). These are under-researched areas in an era when more labor migration is currently at an unprecedented high level, no doubt fueled by the cheaper cost of travel and digital technology to support being 'far away' from home, alongside calls for 'more rights' for those that undertake international mobility for their livelihood (Ruhs 2013;.…”

A virtuous nation and its deserving immigrants. How the immigrant rights movement embraced nationalism

“…Advocates stressed the economic contribution of immigrants to the country (Gleeson, 2015). 'Reflected throughout this work,' another Open Society report noted, 'is an attempt to connect equal opportunity concerns across issues and constituencies and to demonstrate how integrating immigrants into the mainstream of society will lift all boats' (Open Society 2009a).…”