Out of the shadows: DREAMer identity in the immigrant youth movement

Abstract

“DREAMers” – undocumented immigrants in their teens, twenties and thirties who reveal their undocumented status in support of the DREAM Act and other immigration and higher education reforms – have become a recognizable and persuasive force in US immigration politics despite having little formal political power. This article explores the ongoing creation of the DREAMer identity, how it is put to work by movement participants, and the role it plays in participants’ own biographies and perceptions of themselves. In addition to published works, we rely on original interviews conducted with leaders and participants of the immigrant youth movement. We argue that a key purpose of the DREAMer identity is to invert and confound negative images of undocumented immigrants by revealing the complexity of immigrant biographies, highlighting the similarities that come with acculturation and demonstrating immigrants’ contributions to society. The form that this identity has taken, and the fact that it plays a fundamental role in the immigrant youth movement, is the product of a long dialogic process of constant renegotiation with allies, opponents and actors within the movement.