3418 - Illegality and Social Justice Research

Session Submission Type: Invited Session

Description

What role can sociology play in social justice research? This panel tackles this question from the perspective of Illegality, a status affecting over 11 million individuals in the United States, and an estimated 15% of the world’s 214 million migrants. Panelists tackle this question from a variety of institutional foci, evaluating the precarity of illegality, as well as the agency inherent in undocumented life. Amada Armenta begins the panel with a critical look at the concept of sanctuary. She juxtaposes this growing local movement to the reality of immigrants on the ground who regularly confront police practices that facilitate apprehension, detention, and ultimately deportation. Next, Rocio Rosales draws on interviews in two Southern California detention centers with detainees and their families. Her research informs our understanding of the economic, social and health impacts that detention (and ultimate deportation in many cases) is having. Leisy Abrego broadens our typical singular focus on undocumented individuals by jointly examining the legal boundaries of undocumented, refugee and asylee, highlighting opportunities and examples for solidarity across each. Veronica Terriquez offers a final perspective from the vanguard of the immigrant youth organizing front. Her intersectional perspective on immigrant organizing shows how these mobilizations draw together the issues facing undocumented, LGBT, and youth of color across a multi-pronged agenda that includes immigrant rights, but also housing, voting and educational justice. Together these sociologists offer important perspectives on how their research connects to important policy debates around immigration, white supremacy, and the legacy of U.S. empire.

Sub Unit

• Thematic Session

Session Organizer

• Shannon Marie Gleeson, Cornell University

Presider

• Shannon Marie Gleeson, Cornell University

Individual Presentations

• Sanctuary for Whom? Cities, Policing, and Local Immigration Policy - Amada Armenta

• Understanding the Impact of Immigrant Detention - Rocio Rosales, University of California, Irvine

• Undocumented, Refugees, or Asylees? Solidarity across Legal Boundaries - Leisy Janet Abrego, University of California, Los Angeles

• The Changing Scales of Immigrant Youth Organizing: Exercising Power in the Electoral, Local, and Cultural Arenas - Veronica Terriquez, UC Santa Cruz