Cristina G. Mora, Making Hispanics: How Activists, Bureaucrats, and Media Constructed a New American
Gloria Anzaldúa, Borderlands / La Frontera
Behind Bars: Latino/as and Prison in the United States edited by Suzanna Oboler OR Latinas in the Criminal Justice System: Victims, Targets, and Offenders edited by Vera Lopez and Lisa Pasko (for e.g., Chapter 8: Masking Punitive Practices: Latina Immigrants’ Experiences in the U.S. Detention Complex by Cecilia Menjívar, Andrea Cervantes and William Staples)
Natalia Molina, How Race Is Made in America: Immigration, Citizenship, and the Historical Power of Racial Scripts
Cecilia Menjívar, Immigrant Criminalization in Law and the Media: Effects on Latino Immigrant Workers’ Identities in Arizona
Cecilia Menjívar and Leisy Abrego, Legal Violence: Immigration Law and the Lives of Central American Immigrants
Sarah Goldman, Anna Aspenson, Prashasti Bhatnagar & Robert Martin, Essential and in Crisis: A Review of the Public Health Threats Facing Farmworkers in the US OR Center for Agriculture and Food Systems & Center for a Livable Future, Farmworker Health Policy Database
Ronald L. Mize & Alicia C. S. Swards, Consuming Mexican Labor: From the Bracero Program to NAFTA
Meredith Van Natta, Medical Legal Violence: Health Care and Immigration Enforcement Against Latinx Noncitizens
Constructing Borders/crossing Boundaries: Race, Ethnicity, and Immigration edited by Caroline Brettell
Cecilia Menjívar and Néstor Rodriguez, When States Kill: Latin America, the US, and Technologies of Terror
Natalia Molina, Borders, Laborers, and Racialized Medicalization Mexican Immigration and US Public Health Practices in the 20th Century
Asad L. Asad, Latinos’ Deportation Fears by Citizenship and Legal Status, 2007-2018
Routledge Handbook on Immigration and Crime edited by Holly Ventura Miller and Anthony Peguero
Paul Ortiz, The Forgotten Essential Workers of America: The Latinx Working Class Up Against Racial Capitalism
Cecilia Márquez, Making the Latino South: A History of Racial Formation
Karla Cornejo Villavicencio, The Undocumented Americans
Lindsey Lusher Shute and Hannah Beal, Braceros: The Controversial History of US-Mexico Farm Worker Programs With Dr. Matthew Garcia
Undeterred (documentary about community resistance in the rural border town of Arivaca, Arizona)
Freedom for Immigrants, The Immigration Detention Syllabus
As you engage with the materials, we encourage you to reflect on the materials in whatever way you process—whether through provocations, questions, or discussions.
To facilitate discussion, we invite you to join us for a panel discussion with scholars and community members on this topic to reflect together and find different ways to challenge our understanding. More information on the panel is available under Scholar Series. We also welcome your own reflections and questions through our reflection form.
If you are looking for asynchronous reflection, we offer the following questions to guide your reflection:
Who or what has informed and shaped your understanding of the history of Latinx immigration? In what ways do you notice and/or perpetuate the criminalization of Latinx people and communities?
In what ways did the readings/videos/podcasts challenge your current understanding of Latinx immigration and liberation, as well as the purpose of the carceral apparatus?
Think about the intersections between labor rights, immigrant rights, and history of immigration. What is the role of immigration laws within a colonial-capitalist project? What should redress and reparations look like particularly for exploitation and expropriation?
What does building solidarity and mobilizing for justice mean to you? What does it require from you, and what are you willing to commit to?
Option 1: Develop a monthly plan outlining how you will commit to learning more about the history of the land you occupy, building relationships with Indigenous peoples, and paying land taxes for your occupation.
Option 2: Unpack and dismantle your personal reliance on carceral solutions. Reflect on why you or someone you care for has called the police in the past. Use dontcallthepolice.com to research community-based alternatives (in your city, state, wherever you are housed) to offer you the support you were looking for, and help in reallocating city budgets by defunding the police. Additionally, sign up to attend a (free) anti-harassment training organized by hollaback! with a group of your friends, family, and/or loved ones.
Option 3: Donate time, skills, and/or money to grassroots organizations such as Mijente, La ColectiVA, CARECEN SF, Define American, United We Dream, #NoTechforICE, #AbolishICE, and #TakeBackTech; invest in mutual aid networks such as DC Mutual Aid Network or Indigenous Mutual Aid Groups; and/or support artists such as Angelica Frausto (aka Nerdy Brown Kid), Elias Vargas, Favianna Rodriguez Giannoni. A comprehensive database on local mutual aid networks across the nation is available here.
Option 4: Create a weekly or monthly donation plan based on your income and generational wealth to redistribute your wealth. Use this master list to identify organizations, networks, and funds you plan to commit to.