The Precarious and Political: Undocumented Immigrant Activism, Rights Claims, and Networks of Solidarity

Over the past decade, the world has seen a steady growth of the political mobilization of undocumented migrants and pro-immigrant solidarity activists collectively demanding and enacting the non-citizen's right to equality. Their struggle is one of human rights and citizenship, and many of these political mobilizations can be understood through an intensification of stricter border regimes and immigration enforcement. Given the precarious condition of undocumented immigrants, engaging publicly and politicly is a risky strategy. The central question of this thesis aims to uncover what sort of political actions are available to undocumented immigrants, how they contest their exclusion, and how they build political links with broader communities of political actors. I argue that despite their precarious conditions, undocumented immigrants manage to find different ways of acting politically depending on their 'level' of precariousness and how they are able to develop networks with others. Democratic actions such as grassroots campaigns, the New Sanctuary Movement, and detainee hunger strikes reveal the ways the undocumented claim their rights, and the importance of community and solidarity in actualizing political agency.

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