How does a group that lacks legal status organize its members to become effective political activists? In the early 2000s, Arizona's campaign of "attrition through enforcement" aimed to make life so miserable for undocumented immigrants that they would "self-deport." Undocumented activists resisted hostile legislation, registered thousands of new Latino voters, and joined a national movement to advance justice for immigrants. Drawing on five years of observation and interviews with activists in Phoenix, Arizona, Kathryn Abrams explains how the practices of
Open Hand, Closed Fist Practices of Undocumented Organizing in a Hostile State
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Reviews
"This book will be one-stop shopping for understanding the immigrant rights movement in Arizona, one of the most important states of immigrant battles in the twenty-first century."—Paul Almeida, author of Social Movements: The Structure of Collective Mobilization"A rich, qualitative empirical account of how deeply disenfranchised undocumented immigrants were inspired and empowered to form an 'unlikely' movement."—Lynette J. Chua, author of The Politics of Love in Myanmar: LGBT Mobilization and Human Rights as a Way of Life