The DREAMers: How the Undocumented Youth Movement Transformed the Immigrant Rights Debate

241 Pages·2013·0.968 MB·English

by  Walter Nicholls

The DREAMers

The DREAMers
How the Undocumented Youth Movement Transformed
the Immigrant Rights Debate
Walter J. Nicholls
Stanford University Press
Stanford, California
Stanford University Press
Stanford, California
© 2013 by the Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University.
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any
means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system without the prior written permission
of Stanford University Press.
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free, archival-quality paper.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Nicholls, Walter, author.
The DREAMers : how the undocumented youth movement transformed the
immigrant rights debate / Walter J. Nicholls.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8047-8703-1 (cloth : alk. paper)
ISBN 978-0-8047-8884-7 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Immigrant youth—Political activity—United States. 2. Illegal aliens—
Political activity—United States. 3. Immigrant youth—Civil rights—United
States. 4. Immigrants—Civil rights—United States. 5. Youth protest
movements—United States. I. Title.
JV6477.N53 2013
325.73—dc23
2013011191
ISBN 978-0-8047-8869-4 (electronic)
To Marie

Contents
List of Figures ix
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction: The Voice and Power
of Undocumented Youths, an Unlikely Story 1
1 Finding Political Openings in a Hostile Country 21
2 The Birth of the DREAMer 47
3 Taking a Stand 74
4 Rebirth from the Grassroots Up 99
5 Undocumented, Unafraid, Unapologetic 118
6 DREAMers and the Immigrant Rights Movement 143
Conclusion: Dreaming Through the Nation-state 168
Appendix 183
Notes 191
References 207
Index 219

Figures
1. A Call to Arms by the “Dream Is Coming” 87
2. DREAMer in the Fields 105
3. Undocumented, Unafraid, Unapologetic 122
4. I Exist! 123
5. Queer, Undocumented, and Unafraid 126
6. Courageous and Responsible Parents 129