Undocumented Americans

• In Event: The Politics of Identity Documents in the Global South

Abstract

Focusing on the birth certificate, the initial document linking an individual to the state, the proposed paper will analyze the causes and consequences of being a "citizen without proof" in the United States of America. With all the attention paid to undocumented immigrants, it is important to remember that there exist marginalized nationals in the United States who languish without essential identity documents, beginning with lacking a birth certificate. As a result, they are unable to receive the benefits of and exercise the rights of full citizenship. A country without a national identity document, the United States remains a system where official identity papers are for the most part administered on the state level. This highly decentralized system results in a wide variety of and confusing set of rules that make it especially difficult to secure delayed birth registration or to replace this identity document if it got lost during one's lifetime and one has moved away from one's birthplace. Elderly African Americans who were born in the U.S. South and made the trek to northern states decades ago are the prime victims of this antiquated model. Other groups to be analyzed have slipped through the cracks as well.

Author

• Wendy Hunter, University of Texas, Austin