I want to say something about how art like this matters even more when it contrasts so painfully with what we're living through, but everything I write falls short. This is the best I can do.
Every Ramadan I share the Eid episode of Mira Royal Detective (written by my friend @nabeelarshad.bsky.social) with anyone and everyone I can.
youtu.be/oVrTe2glFKg?...
Sharing it this year feels even more meaningful because of how beautifully it portrays pluralism.
Oh, I'm so glad it was helpful!
Hello, Immigration scholars:
Do you have references to academic papers/ books that are not about legal status itself but about the *process* of trying to access a more permanent status from a position of legal liminality?
I'm writing on this & found very little. Could that actually be the case?
I do think, in general, we need more research about what happens when people (are allowed to) "get in line" and how excruciating those processes are, even for those lucky enough to eventually get LPR status, so I hope these ideas are helpful and look forward to seeing what else you find (and write!)
Hopefully some of this is helpful 😅
• "Unauthorized Love" (López) breaks down adjustment via marriage really well
• and finally, not academic research, but I think this article does the same for the U visa process: www.nytimes.com/2024/10/19/u...
• Angela García's forthcoming book also deals with this, though I think it's primarily about unsuccessful attempts to regularize (in case success matters): www.ucpress.edu/books/enduri...
• I imagine you've already read "Suspended Lives: Navigating the Asylum System," but I think she does a good job explaining how long and excruciating the process of gaining asylum was.
Some ideas:
• Blanca Ramírez's work on "anchoring" www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1...
• Isabel García Valdivia's work on "legal brokering"
• Laura E. Enriquez's book "Of Love and Papers"
On Tuesday, 17th February 20206, I sat down with Doug MacMillan from The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) for a conversation about his reporting on ICE detention. It was one of the most illuminating conversations I’ve had in a while, and I’m grateful Doug made time for it.
My Boo - Ghost Town DJs (must stop everything and play it with the sound all the way up!)
New at Can We Still Govern: One aspect of ICE that is not discussed much is how dependent it is on private supply chains, including foreign companies. That provides an opportunity to name-and-shame firms providing its services.
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/private-ch...
Cried listening to Tamara Flores recount what it was like for her to make a music video in Acatlán, Veracruz on @theworld.org
This is what it's like doing research in Mexico. La hospitalidad mexicana no se compara.
theworld.org/segments/202...
Benito is a threat b/c he makes art so alluring and enjoyable you want to understand everything about it and then you end up learning about sugar and slavery and colonialism and the Taínos and Hawaii and then you probably have some thoughts of your own, and that's why art is powerful and dangerous
This is the aftermath of an ICE kidnapping a few blocks from my home in St. Paul—an hour ago. A quiet street full of broken glass and at least three wrecked cars. The target of the kidnapping was taken away by ambulance. He was on a stretcher and covered by a sheet, though a cop said he was alive.
Queer and trans ppl at a Louisiana ICE facility alleged they were recruited for unsanctioned work program, forced to do hard manual labor $1 per day. They said queer ppl were targeted by an assistant warden who stalked, harassed and sexually assaulted them.
So yes, abolish ICE.
AND abolish the idea that rights should be granted or denied based on where you were born, who your parents are, when you migrated, how you migrated, or any other arbitrary distinction.
Otherwise, we continue perpetuating exploitation, disenfranchisement, separation, and death
But it’s all part of the same system.
And if we don’t understand the whole system, we risk being complacent and accepting policies that dehumanize, separate, and kill people in less obvious ways.
I also feel compelled to explain that I write about the hidden violence of U.S. immigration policy.
At a time when immigration enforcement violence is so evident, cruel, and deadly, it feels incongruous to talk about more subtle forms of violence.
Grief'd Up Podcast just released an episode about my research on transnational grief. It was an honor to help uncover the grief that most undocumented and mixed-status families have been forced to feel over the past 30 years.
If you'd like, you can listen here podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/g...
I'm trying to stay off Meta, so this is sadly the only social media I use. It's mostly tumbleweeds, so I don't blame you for preferring Threads and IG 😅
Incidentally, I got to see @jamilahlemieux.bsky.social speak at an event last week, and she is even more brilliant and glamorous IRL! And she is also SO NICE.
People always say don't meet your heroes, but it's never been an issue for me, so maybe get better heroes? 💅
I've been waiting for this moment for over a decade! Just pre-orded @jamilahlemieux.bsky.social's first book, 'Black. Single. Mother.' Here's the link:
www.callandresponsechi.com/products/bla...
Que no se les olvide para quien trabajan, @televisaunivision.bsky.social y @nbcutelemundo.bsky.social.
Pero no se preocupen. Ni que fueran los únicos canales. Gracias a Dios, ya no es como era en el '98. Ahora tenemos mejores opciones action.mijente.net/petitions/ap...
+ a story: my mom is a Spanish-English bilingual teacher. Back in 2016, she ended a long friendship with another teacher who voted for Trump.
The Trump-voting teacher was also a bilingual teacher, and my mom looked at her and said, "Don't you realize immigrants are the only reason you have a job?"
@nbcutelemundo.bsky.social & @televisaunivision.bsky.social –– the largest Latino TV networks in the country –– are running ads of Kristi Noem telling immigrants to “leave the country or we will find you.”'
Thank you, Jazmín Chávez, for sounding the alarm. Sign the petition here www.apagaelodio.com
If you have 90 mins., stream Frybread Face and Me.
Like all good art, it is extremely culturally specific and, as a result, almost universal.
In this case, it's about Navajo culture and about every kid who got sent to spend the summer with their grandmother and cousins
Clip:
youtu.be/YaWrSwdmv68
