(Re) Framing Legal Vulnerability: Identity, Abjection, and Resistance among DACAmented Immigrants in the Trump Era

• In Event: 4265 - Latina/o Youth and Legal Liminality

Abstract

What does it mean to live as an undocumented immigrant in the United States? What does it mean to navigate between the narratives of citizenship and deservedness, and illegality and abjectivity? This article explores the narratives published in the New York Times by and about undocumented immigrants to explore how the abjective status of undocumented immigrants has shifted from the issue of illegality to the question of criminality. Using the stories shared by young undocumented immigrants publicly in the New York Times, after the election of Donald Trump, as well as the narratives used by politicians (like Trump), we analyze their narratives to explore what these stories reveal about identity, abjectivity, and resistance among DACAmented immigrants.

Authors

• Heidy Sarabia, California State University-Sacramento

• Laura Zaragoza, California State University-Sacramento