Important Aspects of the Struggle for a legal status leading to the creation of the movement
The struggle for legal status that necessitated the creation of the Dreamers movement was based on essential social, political, and economic aspects that affected the immigrant population, especially the young people. The undocumented youth immigrants took to the streets and occupied offices of leading political figures as well as filled up blogs and newspaper editorial pages with arguments for granting legal residency status (Nicholls p1). Through these approaches, they attained the backing of powerful rights associations as well as unions to chart their course of recognition and legal residency status. The youth made the call to be granted legal residency status so that they could further their education and get equal opportunities in other areas of economic and social development.
The immediate goal of these young undocumented immigrants was to ensure that the Senate supported the Dream Act (Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act). The passage of this act would have granted these young people legal rights to live in the U.S. these youth or Dreamers, as they were called, were powerfully demanding of residency status. Secondly, they were “coming out” and demanding recognition as human beings that were part of and belonged to the U.S. They considered themselves “good immigrants” who were deserving of permanent status (Nicholls p.7). Based on being humans, they demanded the right to both political and public life. These young people were coming out to assert their “right to have rights.” They believed that they had an inherent right as human beings born free to exist publicly in a nation that had pushed and banished them. Further, the group becomes a political formation aided by its arguments, messages, and rhetoric that were transmitted through activist organizations, media networks, and political positions as well as support. Don't use plagiarised sources.Get your custom essay just from $11/page
Over one million young people shared a similar situation in the country by 2000. These people had migrated into the country without permission as children and grew up without any legal residency status. As such, they feared that without legal recognition and status, they would face similar constraints in adulthood that they encountered in childhood. They feared that they would not achieve their dreams and aspirations as adults. The immigration system imposed on these people similar fate and experience, and the only way to stop this was to voice their concerns, demand for recognition, and legal residency status through different campaign strategies and approaches.
Answer to Question 1
The immigrant rights organizations in 2001 created messages for the dreamers aimed at transforming them into “exceptional immigrants.” The leading immigrant rights associations and organizations created the public image of the “DREAMer” as good citizens who deserved legal status because they were committed to the national values and cultures. The message under this framework was that these undocumented young immigrants might have parents who feel that they are immigrants. However, for them, they felt that they were full Americans as they have been raised on the country’s values and cultural practices. These organizations also maintained that with the exception of social security numbers, these young people were full Americans.
These organizations also crafted a message that these undocumented youth immigrants were the “best and the brightest” who had the chance to make landmark effect on the nation’s economy and contribute to its development. The portrayal and messaging of the immigrant student as a straight A also rebutted the stereotype of these young people as delinquents. Thirdly, these organizations leveraged on the innocent state of the undocumented immigrants and exonerated them for perceived “illegality” by emphasizing that their civil state was “not their mistake.”
These messages created an image of undocumented student immigrants as a distinct person and attracted symbolic limitations that differentiated them from the rest of the people in the wide immigrant populace. The messaging emphasized that assimilation, role played in the economy, and their innocent stature were common among these young people and made them uniquely good and deserve the right to live in the country as well as be recognized with a change in their legal and residency status (Nicholls p3). Through their campaigns, these organizations presented the case of Dreamers to the Congress so that they it could pass the DREAM Act and legalize the residency status of the students.
The framing of the messages also assisted in marking the symbolic limitations of the Dreamers as well as connect the disparate youth to one another and provided them with a common approach to talking, thinking, and feeling about their position and status in the country. More fundamentally, these organizations helped to transform disparate undocumented immigrant students into political groups of Dreamers connected and bound by their shared social, emotional, political, and economic ties (Nicholls p.10). However, the messaging isolated the disparate undocumented immigrants as youth who were different and attempted to make them a political outfit focused on challenging the legal system and security infrastructure in the country. The messaging also made the group one with unique and exceptional attributions to the chagrin of many critics who said the move would create more challenges than provide a lasting solution to the immigration problem in the country.
Answer to Question 2
Disagreements over messaging strategy arose between the Dreamers and some of the immigrants’ rights organizations. As a result, some Dreamers branched away, leading to the breaking of the group due to the lack of a uniform strategy for representation and messaging. The crafting and controlling of representation of these immigrant youths was critical to passing their messages to the public, especially the political class and the media. As such, the activist organizations disagreed with the Dreamers, who wanted to make their own representation through protests that pierced public space and would fade quickly from the political imagination (Nicholls p.100). Further, aggrieved protesters faced the prospect of rejection from the public as unruly and noisy mob that disturbs public order and peace. Creating and maintaining legitimacy of a group of “outsiders” that felt stigmatized needed the activist organizations to train the groups and craft a common strategy to pass their concerns and grievances.
The implication was that the activist groups and organizations had to institute centralized message structured through the utilization of talking points. It also meant that they had to silence any utterances and symbols that would detract the public and group members from the fundamental argument presented by the group. As such, undocumented youth activists that were responsible for taking the messages to the public space were also disciplined so that all could speak from one talking point on the issue of their legal status.
While it was challenging to discipline the youth activists because there were thousands of different activists and organizations, the associations and organizations created a complicated and integrated infrastructure to have a common message and trained local activists so that they would interpret the overall message without any diversions and possible distortion to lead to breaking away of groups and people.
Answer to Question 3
“Undocumented, Unafraid and Unapologetic, was a new message created by the Dreamers to demonstrate that their “illegality” status did not break their resolve to live in the country as legal citizens by demanding for their rights as human beings first. Therefore, through this message, the undocumented immigrant youth demonstrated that they did not have any apologies and were not afraid to come out and be counted as people who did not have legal status in the country (Nicholls p.10). However, it was not a fault of their own and that they were more and full Americans with exception of social security numbers. The immigrants also showed that coming out was not about seeking a voice for their civil status but an illustration that life was possible outside the shadows for themselves and other undocumented immigrants. The coming out of the youth was only attainable after they can have transformed their outfits into a political group with representatives, arguments and messages, solidarities and beliefs in what they considered was not only good but also just.
The message became a “coming out” moment for this group because it allowed them to voice their concerns and pitch their arguments to the public that despite their political and civil status, they were ready and willing to be integrated into the American society because they deserved that right (Nicholl p7). It was the basis of coming out as it allowed them to show their attributes and how they could contribute to the economic discourse of the country as “exceptional immigrants” with unique situation who deserved the right to be in this country.
The coming out also inspired other undocumented immigrant youth to join the movement and develop strategies that would help in their discourse and have their voice heard collective by their state and federal governments through passage of legislations to guarantee them legal status. The coming out was considered an essential way of finding solutions that were humane and just for individuals that had numerous historic and present obstacles as citizens of this country.
Answer to Question 4
The Dreamers through their activist organizations used a host of strategies to attain their victories through legislations and policy enactment at both state and federal levels. Two significant legislation and policy were enacted in California and by the Obama administration to provide the Dreamer a “de-facto” legal status. California passed a bill in its state assembly that allows undocumented immigrant student who meet certain conditions and requirements to pay for in-state tuition as opposed to out-of-state tuition (Nicholls p.189). Through this legislation, California demonstrated that the legal status of undocumented immigrant youth was a concern that needed to be addressed by both state and federal governments. Through the statute, undocumented immigrant students got a reprieve and a chance to complete their education. While their life after school remained unsecured, the California law was important in illustrating the need to change laws to ensure that these undocumented immigrant youths deserved the right to have legal status as Americans.
The DREAM Act failed in the Congress during the Obama administration. However, President Obama’s policy of DACA allows Dreamers to renew their status every two years to remain legal residents in the country. Under the policy, individuals who entered the country as illegal minors are entitled to a renewable two-year protection from possible deportation. In addition, DACA (Deferred Action for Children Arrivals) allows the affected students and individuals to be eligible for work permit (Nicholls p.200). Through DACA, the Dreamer movement attained an opportunity for increased legitimacy as well as recognition in the country. The DACA program shields close to eight hundred Dreamers from potential and legal deportation to countries they know nothing about. Therefore, through legislations and policies many state governments have expanded or created programs to address issues related to undocumented immigrant youth who believe that they are exceptional people that should be granted legal and permanent legal status in the country.
Reference
Nicholls, W. J. (2013). The DREAMers: How the Undocumented Youth Movement
Transformed the Immigrant Rights Debate. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.