Download or read book The Road to Citizenship written by Sofya Aptekar and published by Rutgers University Press. This book was released on 2015-03-18 with total page 132 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Between 2000 and 2011, eight million immigrants became American citizens. In naturalization ceremonies large and small these new Americans pledged an oath of allegiance to the United States, gaining the right to vote, serve on juries, and hold political office; access to certain jobs; and the legal rights of full citizens. In The Road to Citizenship, Sofya Aptekar analyzes what the process of becoming a citizen means for these newly minted Americans and what it means for the United States as a whole. Examining the evolution of the discursive role of immigrants in American society from potential traitors to morally superior “supercitizens,” Aptekar’s in-depth research uncovers considerable contradictions with the way naturalization works today. Census data reveal that citizenship is distributed in ways that increasingly exacerbate existing class and racial inequalities, at the same time that immigrants’ own understandings of naturalization defy accepted stories we tell about assimilation, citizenship, and becoming American. Aptekar contends that debates about immigration must be broadened beyond the current focus on borders and documentation to include larger questions about the definition of citizenship. Aptekar’s work brings into sharp relief key questions about the overall system: does the current naturalization process accurately reflect our priorities as a nation and reflect the values we wish to instill in new residents and citizens? Should barriers to full membership in the American polity be lowered? What are the implications of keeping the process the same or changing it? Using archival research, interviews, analysis of census and survey data, and participant observation of citizenship ceremonies, The Road to Citizenship demonstrates the ways in which naturalization itself reflects the larger operations of social cohesion and democracy in America.
Download or read book The Path to Citizenship written by Sara Howell and published by The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc. This book was released on 2014-07-15 with total page 24 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Many Americans are citizens because they were born here. But not everyone who lives here is a citizen. Ease into the process of applying for citizenship with help from this informative volume. Accompanying photos and captions familiarize readers with the citizenship test, the character check, and many other facets of the path to citizenship.
Download or read book Earned Citizenship written by Michael J. Sullivan and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2019-03-18 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The migration and settlement of 11 million unauthorized immigrants is among the leading political challenges facing the United States today. The majority of unauthorized immigrants in the U.S. have been here for more than five years, and are settling into American communities, working, forming families, and serving in the military, even though they may be detained and deported if they are discovered. An open question remains as to what to do about unauthorized immigrants who are already living in the United States. On one hand it is important that the government sends a message that future violations of immigration law will not be tolerated. On the other sits a deeper ethical dilemma that is the focus of this book: what do the state and citizens owe to unauthorized immigrants who have served their adopted country? Earned Citizenship argues that long-term unauthorized immigrant residents should be able to earn legalization and a pathway to citizenship through service in their adopted communities. Their service would act as restitution for immigration law violations. Military service in particular would merit naturalization in countries with a strong citizen-soldier tradition, including the United States. The book also considers the civic value of caregiving as a service to citizens and the country, contending that family immigration policies should be expanded to recognize the importance of caregiving duties for dependents. This argument is part of a broader project in political theory and public policy aimed at reconciling civic republicanism with a feminist ethic of care, and its emphasis on dependency work. As a whole, Earned Citizenship provides a non-humanitarian justification for legalizing unauthorized immigrants based on their contributions to citizens and institutions in their adopted nation.
Download or read book Citizenship Reimagined written by Allan Colbern and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2020-10-22 with total page 457 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: States have historically led in rights expansion for marginalized populations and remain leaders today on the rights of undocumented immigrants.
Download or read book Immigration Wars written by Jeb Bush and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2013 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The immigration debate divides Americans more stridently than ever, due to a chronic failure of national leadership by both parties. Bush and Bolick propose a six-point strategy for reworking our policies that begins with erasing all existing, outdated immigration structures and starting over. Their strategy is guided by two core principles: first, immigration is vital to America's future; second, any enduring resolution must adhere to the rule of law.
Download or read book Pursuing Citizenship in the Enforcement Era written by Ming Hsu Chen and published by Stanford University Press. This book was released on 2020-08-25 with total page 229 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Pursuing Citizenship in the Enforcement Era provides readers with the everyday perspectives of immigrants on what it is like to try to integrate into American society during a time when immigration policy is focused on enforcement and exclusion. The law says that everyone who is not a citizen is an alien. But the social reality is more complicated. Ming Hsu Chen argues that the citizen/alien binary should instead be reframed as a spectrum of citizenship, a concept that emphasizes continuities between the otherwise distinct experiences of membership and belonging for immigrants seeking to become citizens. To understand citizenship from the perspective of noncitizens, this book utilizes interviews with more than one-hundred immigrants of varying legal statuses about their attempts to integrate economically, socially, politically, and legally during a modern era of intense immigration enforcement. Studying the experiences of green card holders, refugees, military service members, temporary workers, international students, and undocumented immigrants uncovers the common plight that underlies their distinctions: limited legal status breeds a sense of citizenship insecurity for all immigrants that inhibits their full integration into society. Bringing together theories of citizenship with empirical data on integration and analysis of contemporary policy, Chen builds a case that formal citizenship status matters more than ever during times of enforcement and argues for constructing pathways to citizenship that enhance both formal and substantive equality of immigrants.
Download or read book A Guide to Naturalization written by United States. Immigration and Naturalization Service and published by . This book was released on 2000 with total page 64 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book A Pathway to Citizenship by Contributing in Relationships written by Michael John Sullivan and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Paper Citizens written by Kamal Sadiq and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2008-12-02 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this groundbreaking work, Kamal Sadiq reveals that most of the world's illegal immigrants are not migrating directly to the US, but to countries in the vast developing world, where they are able to obtain citizenship papers fairly easily. Sadiq introduces "documentary citizenship" to explain how paperwork--often falsely obtained--confers citizenship on illegal immigrants. Across the globe, there are literally tens of millions of such illegal immigrants who have assumed the guise of "citizens." Who, then, is really a citizen? And what does citizenship mean for most of the world's peoples? Rendered in vivid detail, Paper Citizens not only shows how illegal immigrants acquire false papers, but also sheds light on the consequences this will have for global security in the post 9/11 world.
Download or read book Americans in Waiting written by Hiroshi Motomura and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2007-09-17 with total page 265 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Although America is unquestionably a nation of immigrants, its immigration policies have inspired more questions than consensus on who should be admitted and what the path to citizenship should be. In Americans in Waiting, Hiroshi Motomura looks to a forgotten part of our past to show how, for over 150 years, immigration was assumed to be a transition to citizenship, with immigrants essentially being treated as future citizens--Americans in waiting. Challenging current conceptions, the author deftly uncovers how this view, once so central to law and policy, has all but vanished. Motomura explains how America could create a more unified society by recovering this lost history and by giving immigrants more, but at the same time asking more of them. A timely, panoramic chronicle of immigration and citizenship in the United States, Americans in Waiting offers new ideas and a fresh perspective on current debates.
Download or read book Moving Forward written by Australian Citizenship Test Review Committee and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Learn about the United States written by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and published by Government Printing Office. This book was released on 2009 with total page 36 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Learn About the United States" is intended to help permanent residents gain a deeper understanding of U.S. history and government as they prepare to become citizens. The product presents 96 short lessons, based on the sample questions from which the civics portion of the naturalization test is drawn. An audio CD that allows students to listen to the questions, answers, and civics lessons read aloud is also included. For immigrants preparing to naturalize, the chance to learn more about the history and government of the United States will make their journey toward citizenship a more meaningful one.
Download or read book Coming Out of the Shadows written by Sherrie A. Kossoudji and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1986, Congress passed the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) to reduce the incentives for unauthorized migration by eliminating U.S. employment opportunities for unauthorized workers. The General Legalization Program within IRCA granted amnesty to approximately 1.7 million long-term unauthorized workers to bring them "out of the shadows" and improve their labor market opportunities. An analysis of wages using panel data for a sample of legalized men provides evidence that wage determinants are structurally different after amnesty for them, but not for the comparison group measured during the same time periods. This suggests that changes are due to legalization rather than differences in macroeconomic conditions. These changes result from altered returns to human capital and continuing penalties for those who work in traditional migrant jobs. The penalty for being unauthorized begins with low entry wages and is compounded by slow wage growth during the unauthorized era. Legalized men experienced rapid wage growth after legalization. Benchmark estimates of the penalty to being unauthorized range from 14 percent to 24 percent. The wage benefit of legalization under IRCA was approximately 6 percent by 1992.
Download or read book Right to DREAM written by William A. Schwab and published by University of Arkansas Press. This book was released on 2013-04-01 with total page 160 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The DREAM Act, bipartisan legislation first introduced in Congress in 2001, would provide conditional residency for undocumented youth brought to the United States as children. It recognizes that undocumented youth have done nothing wrong and that they should be allowed to work, to go to school, and to travel. The bill makes college more affordable through in-state tuition and gives the undocumented a path to citizenship if they graduate from college or serve in the military. Congress has failed to pass the DREAM Act, and fourteen states have filled the gap by implementing their own laws and policies that provide educational benefits to undocumented students. Right to DREAM makes a compelling argument for the DREAM Act and comprehensive immigration reform. William A. Schwab explores the key issues surrounding this legislation: What are the issues that divide? What do the proponents and opponents of the DREAM Act argue? Is there a middle ground? Is compromise possible? Answering these questions, Schwab explains the legal issues surrounding the education of immigrant children, who immigrates and why, how four waves of immigration have shaped the nation, the effects of immigrants on the U.S. economy and culture, and the process of becoming an American. Schwab analyzes the DREAM Act, deferred action, and immigration policy. He weaves personal stories of undocumented youth throughout the book and advocates for the economic, political, and social benefits of the DREAM Act that would bring undocumented youth out of the shadows and into the mainstream of society.
Download or read book Offshore Citizens written by Noora Lori and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2019-08-22 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This study of citizenship and migration policies in the Gulf shows how temporary residency can become a permanent citizenship status.
Download or read book U S Immigration Policy on Permanent Admissions written by Ruth Ellen Wasem and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on 2010-08 with total page 41 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Contents: (1) Overview; (2) Current Law and Policy; Worldwide Immigration Levels; Per-Country Ceilings; Other Permanent Immigration Categories; (3) Admissions Trends: Immigration Patterns, 1900-2008; FY 2008 Admissions; (4) Backlogs and Waiting Times: Visa Processing Dates: Family-Based Visa Priority Dates; Employment-Based Visa Retrogression; Petition Processing Backlogs; (5) Issues and Options in the 111th Congress: Effects of Current Economic Conditions on Legal Immigration; Family-Based Preferences; Permanent Partners; Point System; Immigration Commission; Interaction with Legalization Options; Lifting Per-Country Ceilings. Charts and tables.
Download or read book Spiritual Citizenship written by N. Fadeke Castor and published by Duke University Press. This book was released on 2017-11-09 with total page 251 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Spiritual Citizenship N. Fadeke Castor employs the titular concept to illuminate how Ifá/Orisha practices informed by Yoruba cosmology shape local, national, and transnational belonging in African diasporic communities in Trinidad and beyond. Drawing on almost two decades of fieldwork in Trinidad, Castor outlines how the political activism and social upheaval of the 1970s set the stage for African diasporic religions to enter mainstream Trinidadian society. She establishes how the postcolonial performance of Ifá/Orisha practices in Trinidad fosters a sense of belonging that invigorates its practitioners to work toward freedom, equality, and social justice. Demonstrating how spirituality is inextricable from the political project of black liberation, Castor illustrates the ways in which Ifá/Orisha beliefs and practices offer Trinidadians the means to strengthen belonging throughout the diaspora, access past generations, heal historical wounds, and envision a decolonial future.
