"Coming Out of the Shadows": DREAM Act Activism in the Context of Global Anti-Deportation Activism
- Laura Corrunker
- Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies
- Indiana University Press
- Volume 19, Issue 1, Winter 2012
- pp. 143-168
- 10.2979/indjglolegstu.19.1.143
- Article
- Additional Information
This Article, based on ethnographic fieldwork with an undocumented, youth-led immigrant rights organization, explores undocumented youth activism in the United States in relation to global anti-deportation movements. The strategies that undocumented youth utilize in their fight for the DREAM Act, a bill that creates provisions for certain undocumented youth to legalize their status, are compared with examples of anti-deportation activism outside the United States. In comparing the DREAM Act movement with anti-deportation movements globally, three points of commonality emerge: (1) leadership of undocumented immigrants; (2) visibility; and (3) measures of "deservingness." This Article argues that comparing examples of immigrant activism globally is useful for better understanding the complex relationship between globalization and migration.