“Unapologetic and unafraid”: Immigrant youth come out from the shadows

Abstract

Young immigrants are challenging the boundaries of citizenship and insisting on their human rights. This chapter examines the civic lives of immigrant youth through the case of Latina/os, exploring the paradox of their apparent low civic education and engagement levels and remarkable participation in recent protests. After an overview of demographics and what we know about immigrant youth civic life, the focus shifts to the undocumented. Many retain a sense of community obligation, yet because of their developmental stage and U.S. education, their engagement differs from that of their parents' generation. Young immigrants are reconfiguring organizing and reenergizing U.S. democracy through their use of new information technologies.

Mexican (im)migrant students and education: Constructions of and resistance to “illegality”

“…However, in the new millennium, they have formed communities of interest that organize and "come out" as "undocumented, unafraid, and unapologetic" (Negrón- Gonzales, 2014, 259-278;Seif, 2011;Nicholls, 2013a). In addition to growing up in the United States without the chance to regularize their status, their activism has often been spurred by specific policy proposals.…”

“…Over time, some have emerged as leaders in the movement for their own liberation. They have formed school-based immigrant student groups and online activist communities, and they have met in church basements and community-based organizations throughout the country (Seif, 2011). They contribute to their neighborhoods as volunteers, translate for elders, and tutor and mentor younger immigrants.…”

Civil Rights Laws as Tools to Advance Health in the Twenty-First Century

“…Consider the examples of the Dreamers, undocumented young people brought to the United States as children who may be barred from higher education and employment because of their immigration status (38,89), or the Black Lives Matter campaign, organized by young African Americans (51). These groups used social media channels such as Twitter to advocate for civil rights and have changed perceptions, created policy change, and encouraged millions to move toward action and activism (38).…”

Sexual adjudications and queer transpositions

“…As undocumented immigrants who arrived in the United States before they were age 15 (and under the age of 31 in June 2012), this strata of immigrants, many of whom were brought by their parents from Mexico and Central America, [End Page 144] became eligible for President Obama's "Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals" (DACA) Program. However, preceding the president's decree, undocumented youth were already actively involved in producing campaigns to "come out of the shadows" (Seif 2011). Many of the youth in leadership positions in these struggles identify as queer and are very publically out and visible: pronouncing both their undocumented and queer subjectivity through iterative practices of coming out in both registers.…”