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Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes
1 The background of this paper is my social and activist work in the context of the undocumented-youth movement in the United States and my academic work with autobiographical texts by undocumented migrants. I want to note that in both these contexts, my privileged position as a documented citizen influences and paternalizes the sensitive topics I address. The consequence must be that any project I undertake in this context takes on a decidedly politicized agenda, and more precisely one that essentially questions the status quo, that is, the ongoing and unjust system of endowing privilege. When critiquing and evaluating the features of text by undocumented authors, my goal is to critique not the narratives themselves, but the framing master discourses that are systematically inscribed into our societies and provide the structural undercarriage to both discriminatory social agendas and sometimes even outspokenly liberal and humanitarian discourses. As such, these narratives also constrain undocumented voices, and it is such constraints—and their influence on autobiographical writing—that I aim to uncover.
2 The DREAM Act—Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act—aimed to provide conditional permanent residency and eventually citizenship to undocumented migrants who arrived in the US as minors, graduated from US high schools, and lived in the country for more than five years. While the group of possible applicants was thus strictly limited and the act set “a very high standard, one with little tolerance for any but the most minor criminal or immigration-related violations” (Elizabeth Keyes, “Defining America: The DREAM Act, Immigration Reform and Citizenship.” Nevada Law Journal, 14.3, 2013, p. 103), at the same time it presented the first and only pathway to legal status for undocumented migrants that has been drafted and introduced into US political debate since the 1980s. It was defeated in both the Senate and the House of Representatives several times from 2001 to 2012, until President Obama introduced DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) through executive action. While DACA tried to meet similar objectives as the DREAM Act, its scope was even more limited—and it was seen as a stopgap measure, since any succeeding president could undo an executive order. For a detailed discussion of both measures, see Ina Batzke, Undocumented Migrants in the United States: Life Narratives and Self-Representations. New York: Routledge, 2019.
3 Jose Antonio Vargas, “Outlaw: My Life in America as an Undocumented Immigrant.” The New York Times Magazine, June 26, 2011, p. MM22.
4 See Genevieve Negrón-Gonzales, “Undocumented Youth Activism as Counter-Spectacle: Civil Disobedience and Testimonio in the Battle around Immigration Reform.” Aztlán: A Journal of Chicano Studies, 40.1, 2015, pp. 87–112; and René Galindo, “Embodying the Gap between National Inclusion and Exclusion: The ‘Testimonios’ of Three Undocumented Students at a 2007 Congressional Hearing.” Harvard Latino Review, 14, 2011, pp. 377–396.
5 Comprehensive Immigration Reform: The Future of Undocumented Immigrant Students. Hearing Before the Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security, and International Law of the Committee on the Judiciary House of Representatives. 110th Cong, 2007. www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CHRG-110hhrg35453/html/CHRG-110hhrg35453.htm.
6 Batzke, Undocumented Migrants, pp. 190–192.
7 Kalaw, p. 2.
8 After the statewide discussions about undocumented migrants and the DREAM Act had intensified and institutionalized from 2001 to 2005, the interactions between activists quickly shifted toward online media. While in the beginning, the exchange between undocumented migrants about their experiences with marginalization was found mainly on private blogs, university-related forums, and smaller local websites, the connections went nationwide in March 2006 with the creation of the Dream Act Portal. The portal gave undocumented immigrants an entire forum where they were welcome to introduce themselves and also, for the first time, document their life stories. Arguably, by doing so, students among the undocumented population in particular became increasingly aware of the importance of speaking for themselves instead of being represented by others—an awareness that arguably led Gonzalez, Kalaw, and Tran to accept the invitations to speak to the public in person, to, as Tran put it, “give voice to thousands of other undocumented students” (p. 2) whose stories would not be heard during the congressional hearing. See Claudia Anguiano, “Undocumented, Unapologetic and Unafraid: Discursive Strategies of the Immigration Youth DREAM Social Movement,” PhD diss., University of New Mexico, 2011; and Pedro De la Torre and Roy Germano, “Out of the Shadows: DREAMer Identity in the Immigrant Youth Movement.” Latino Studies, 12, 2014, pp. 449–467.
9 See Sidonie Smith and Julia Watson, Reading Autobiography: A Guide for Interpreting Life Narratives. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2001.
10 Gonzalez, p. 2.
11 Christina Gerken, “The DREAMers: Narratives of Deservingness in Pro-Immigrant Activism in the 21st Century.” American Lives, edited by Alfred Hornung. Heidelberg: Winter, 2013, pp. 294.
12 Tran, p. 3.
13 See Daniel G. Solórzano and Tara J. Yosso, “Critical Race Methodology: Counter-Storytelling as an Analytical Framework for Education Research.” Qualitative Inquiry, 8.1, 2002, p. 28.
14 Julian Jefferies, “Do Undocumented Students ‘Play by the Rules’?” Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 52.3, 2008, p. 251 (emphasis added).
15 Tran, p. 2.
16 Kalaw, p. 2. Kalaw also directly addresses how distant she feels from her country of origin: “I persevered while my case was pending, despite the looming prospect of removal to a country in Africa where I would not be fully accepted and do not know the language” (p. 2).
17 Comprehensive Immigration Reform, p. 27.
18 Gerken, “The DREAMers,” p. 290 (emphasis added).
19 Gonzalez, p. 3.
20 Kalaw, p. 2.
21 See Gerken, “The DREAMers,” p. 290.
22 Jorge Gutierrez, “I Am Undocuqueer: New Strategies for Alliance Building for the LGBTQ and Immigrant Rights Movements.” Huffington Post. January 21, 2013. www.huffingtonpost.com/jorge-gutierrez/i-am-undocuqueer_b_2521339.html.
23 Gerken, “The DREAMers,” p. 288.
24 Gerken, “The DREAMers,” p. 288.
25 The fact that one of the three witnesses, Tam Tran, was arrested along with her entire family only a few days after her story was republished speaks for itself. Indeed, shortly after the congressional testimony, she had agreed to be featured in a story for USA Today and, on October 8, 2007, was quoted by first and last name as she spoke out about her marginalization and the fight for the DREAM Act. Three days later, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials took her, her parents, and her brother into custody. While Kelly Nantel, a representative for ICE, said the Tran family’s arrest by the agents “absolutely, unequivocally had nothing to do” with her advocacy, this outcome nevertheless shook the undocumented population (cf. Kiely).
26 Chock, p. 279.