Youth and Immigrant Rights

Abstract

Youth across various legal statuses have emerged as key leaders and participants of the immigrant rights movement at the local and national levels of political life. During the spring of 2006, high school and university students across the United States initiated mobilization against the racialized policy of HR 4437– a congressional House Bill that would have made undocumented status a felony. In the early 2000s, immigrant youth began to organize around access to educational opportunities and financial aid. Youth activism was successful in passing legislation that allowed undocumented students to qualify for in‐state tuition across several states. For example, undocumented youth made efforts to expand their access to higher education and their activism led to the passage of State Assembly Bill 540 in California, which allows undocumented students to pay in‐state tuition and fees. Other youth pushed further, seeking work eligibility in order to gain employment with their college degree. Undocumented youth leaders in the immigrant rights movement have also mobilized for policies that permitted them to stay in school, as well as the right not to be deported. In the 2000s and 2010s, immigrant youth organized multiple social movement campaigns for the right of families to not be separated and against deportations. There have been instances where youth and allies blocked buses leaving Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention centers. Young adults have also mobilized against ICE workplace and community raids, and other types of anti‐immigrant legislation. For instance, in October 2011, undocumented youth staged a sit‐in in the ICE office in downtown Los Angeles to demand the Obama Administration stop deporting undocumented migrant youth. This civil disobedience action was also coordinated to launch the National Education Not Deportation (END) Our Pain campaign led by a coalition of immigrant youth organizations and allies. More recently, youth have initiated mobilizations to protect the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.