Immigrants Under Threat: Risk and Resistance in Deportation Nation

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 256 pages
Publication date: 26 June 2018
Publisher: New York University Press

A captivating portrayal of two Mexican immigrant communities bravely facing the daunting challenges of deportation, detention, and dispossession emerges in the pages of Everyday Life as an Immigrant in a Deportation Nation. This insightful work delves into the intricate tapestry of immigrant experiences, unveiling the profound risks and struggles that accompany their daily existence in a country driven by immigration enforcement.

Immigrants Under Threat, a groundbreaking book, shifts the focus from the actions taken against Mexican immigrants to their remarkable responses. It explores the diverse range of strategies employed by immigrants to navigate the perilous terrain, from private avoidance tactics to public displays of protest. These resistance movements are fueled by the significant demographic shifts that began in 1965 and an immigration enforcement regime that has brought daily life to a state of heightened peril.

At the heart of Immigrants Under Threat lies the exploration of how the material needs of everyday life both enable and constrain participation in immigrant resistance movements. Through meticulous ethnographic research conducted in two Mexican immigrant communities on California's Central Coast, author Greg Prieto makes a compelling argument that these communities turn inward to protect themselves from the perceived threats of authorities and a hostile public. However, these barriers are gradually overcome through the face-to-face work of social-movement organizing, which transforms individual grievances into collective demands.

The social movements that emerge from this transformative process are shaped by the local political climates in which they unfold, while remaining firmly rooted in their material inspiration. Immigrants Under Threat elucidates that Mexican immigrants seek not to transcend but rather to burrow into American institutions of law and family, aiming to attain a measure of economic stability and social mobility that they have long pursued. This book offers a profound understanding of the complex dynamics at play, shedding light on the resilience and determination of immigrant communities in the face of adversity.

Weight: 378g
Dimension: 231 x 153 x 18 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781479821464