Latino Mass Mobilization: Immigration, Racialization, and Activism

588 Pages·2017·4.34 MB·English

by  Chris Zepeda-Millán

L AT I NO MAS S MO BI L I Z AT I O N
In the spring of 2006, millions of Latinos across the country
participated in the largest civil rights demonstrations in American
history. In this timely and highly anticipated book, Chris Zepeda-
Millán analyzes the background, course, and impacts of this
unprecedented wave of protests, highlighting their unique local,
national, and demographic dynamics. He finds that because of the
particular ways the issue of immigrant illegality was racialized,
federally proposed anti-immigrant legislation (H.R. 4437) helped
transform Latinos’ sense of latent group membership into the racial
group consciousness that incited their engagement in large-scale
collective action. Zepeda-Millán shows how nativist policy threats
against disenfranchised undocumented immigrants can provoke a
political backlash – on the streets and at the ballot box – from not
only “people without papers” but also naturalized and U.S.-born
citizens. Latino Mass Mobilization is an important intervention into
contemporary debates regarding immigration policy, social
movements, racial politics, and immigrant rights in the United States.
Chris Zepeda-Millán is an Assistant Professor in the Department of
Ethnic Studies and Faculty Chair of the Center for Research on
Social Change at UC Berkeley. He earned his Ph.D. from the
Department of Government at Cornell University and his research on
Latino politics, immigration, and social movements has been
published in top political science and interdisciplinary academic
journals. Professor Zepeda-Millán has been an invited contributor to
and interviewed by various local, national, and international media
outlets, including PBS, Univision, the Los Angeles Times, NBC
Latino, and the Huffington Post.
LATINO MAS S
MOBILIZATI ON
Immigration, Racialization, and
Activism
Chris Zepeda-Millán
University of California, Berkeley
University Printing House, Cambridge CB2 8BS, United Kingdom
One Liberty Plaza, 20th Floor, New York, NY 10006, USA
477 Williamstown Road, Port Melbourne, VIC 3207, Australia
4843/24, 2nd Floor, Ansari Road, Daryaganj, Delhi - 110002, India
79 Anson Road, #06-04/06, Singapore 079906
Cambridge University Press is part of the University of Cambridge.
It furthers the University's mission by disseminating knowledge in the
pursuit of education, learning, and research at the highest international
levels of excellence.
www.cambridge.org
Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9781107076945
DOI: 10.1017/9781139924719
© Chris Zepeda-Millán 2017
This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the
provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any
part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University
Press.
First published 2017
Printed in the United States of America by Sheridan Books, Inc.
A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library.
ISBN 978-1-107-07694-5 Hardback
ISBN 978-1-107-43412-7 Paperback
Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or
accuracy of URLs for external or third-party Internet Web sites referred to in
this publication and does not guarantee that any content on such Web sites is,
or will remain, accurate or appropriate.
Para mis abuelitos, Julia y Jorge Millán, Lupe y José Zepeda. Su
amor, sacrificio, y orgullo de ser mexicanos han servido como
ejemplos que influenciaron mi formación, mis pensamientos, y este
libro. Los amo con todo mi corazón.
Contents
List of Figures
List of Tables
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1 Forging an Immigrant Rights Movement, 1965–2005
2 Weapons of the Not So Weak
3 Promoting Protest Through Ethnic Media
4 Coalitions and the Racialization of Illegality
5 The Suppression of Immigrant Contention
6 Today We March, Tomorrow We Vote
Conclusion
Appendix A: Research Design
Appendix B: List of Organizations
Endnotes
References
Index
Figures
4.1 Size of Mexican Origin Population
5.1 State Legislation Related to Immigration, 2005–2008
5.2 Mutually Signed 287(g) Agreements, 2002–2008
5.3 ICE Detention Population, 2003–2008
5.4 Deportations, 2003–2008
5.5 Worksite Enforcement Arrests, 2003–2008
6.1 Naturalization Petitions, 2000–2008
6.2 Latino Voter Registration and Turnout, 1996–2008
Tables
4.1 Characteristics of Undocumented Immigrants by Metro
Area
6.1 Latino Rate of Increase in Midterm Elections, 2002 &
2006
6.2 Latino Rate of Increase in Presidential Elections, 2004 &
2008