Contested Americans: Mixed-Status Families in Anti-Immigrant Times

Cassaundra Rodriguez

Published by New York University Press 2023

Contested Americans

Mixed-Status Families in Anti-Immigrant Times

Cassaundra Rodriguez

Volume 9 in the series Latina/o Sociology

https://doi.org/10.18574/nyu/9781479800605.001.0001

Overview
Contents

About this book

Reveals the impossible choices and downright terror mixed-status families often face for their loved
ones

Living in a mixed-status immigrant family might mean that your grandmother could be deported at any moment, your son could be arrested at work, or your mother’s deportation hearing is postponed—again. Such uncertainty and fear are the reality of life for mixed-status families—those that include both undocumented immigrants and US citizens. In Contested Americans, Cassaundra Rodriguez explores how members of mixed-status families experience and articulate belonging in the United States. The sixteen million people in the US who fall under this classification share the fear of a family member’s possible deportation or the anxiety of leaving behind a child or elderly relative.

Rodriguez highlights how different members of the same mixed-status families mediate undocumented statuses while maintaining the collective whole of a family. For many young adults, this may mean negotiating the sponsorship of their immigrant parents, and for the parents, planning for the emotional, physical, and financial well-being of their children in case of deportation.

Contested Americans is a timely book, filled with vivid storytelling, that shows how immigration policies, racism, and privilege collide in the backdrop of the lives of millions of mixed-status families.

Author / Editor information

Rodriguez Cassaundra :

Cassaundra Rodriguez is Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. She is the author of Contested Americans: Mixed-Status Families in Anti-Immigrant Times. Cassaundra Rodriguez is Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Reviews

Rodriguez’s engaging, captivating, and straightforward writing style makes this book accessible and relatable to the educators (including those teaching urban studies), social workers, researchers, and anyone who wants to learn more about immigrants, especially mixed-status families. This book can be a powerful resource for shaping immigration and other urban policies prioritizing family unity.

Contested Americans takes readers deep into the dreams, struggles, and survival strategies of Mexican mixed-status families in Los Angeles. Through powerful and humanizing prose, Rodriguez shows the ways in which US-citizen young adults navigate family illegality while maintaining a commitment to their loved ones and resisting racism and anti-immigrant policies. Clearly and beautifully written, and infused with novel insights about contemporary immigrant family life.

A comprehensive and compelling analysis of the impact of immigration laws and policies on the lives of the adult citizen children of undocumented immigrants. Rodriguez masterfully argues that these young adults experience multigenerational punishment as their parents’ truncated path to legality fuels anxiety, unloads economic and emotional responsibility, and challenges their own birthright claims to national membership. Using a rich methodology, deep analysis, and a solid theoretical stance, Rodriguez’s powerful and engaging narrative reveals the continuous limits of citizenship for US-born members of mixed-status families.

Contested Americans underscores the in-between legal boundaries navigated by the adult children of mixed families. Through vivid accounts, Rodriguez presents the poignant story of both privileges and responsibility as these citizens are impacted by changing immigration policies and discrimination. A must-read for immigration and family scholars

Theoretically compelling, rigorously researched, and compellingly argued, Contested Americans shines a bright light on contemporary US immigration and Latino families’ efforts to carve out a space within the political and cultural fabric of the nation. Cassaundra Rodriguez is a bold new voice in immigration scholarship whose ideas will have resonance for some time to come.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	v
Introduction: Mixed-Status Families Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
1 Parents Mitigating Family Illegality in Deportation Plans Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	27
2 Negotiating Family Illegality as Young Adults Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	57
3 Talking Back to “Anchor Baby” and Birthright Citizenship Discourse Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	95
4 Moral Boundaries and the Right to Belong Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	125
5 Navigating Racialized Belonging in Segregated Los Angeles Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	154
Conclusion: Uncertain Futures Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	183
Acknowledgments Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	201
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	205
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	223
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	249
About the Author Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	261