Contested Americans: Mixed-Status Families in Anti-Immigrant Times

By Cassaundra Rodriguez

Book Overview

Honorable Mention, Distinguished Contribution to Scholarship Book Award, given by the Latino/a Sociology Section of the American Sociological Association

2023 C. Wright Mills Award Finalist

Reveals the impossible choices and downright terror mixed-status families often face for their loved
ones

Living in a mixed-status immigrant family might mean that your grandmother could be deported at any moment, your son could be arrested at work, or your mother's deportation hearing is postponed--again. Such uncertainty and fear are the reality of life for mixed-status families--those that include both undocumented immigrants and US citizens. In Contested Americans, Cassaundra Rodriguez explores how members of mixed-status families experience and articulate belonging in the United States. The sixteen million people in the US who fall under this classification share the fear of a family member's possible deportation or the anxiety of leaving behind a child or elderly relative.

Rodriguez highlights how different members of the same mixed-status families mediate undocumented statuses while maintaining the collective whole of a family. For many young adults, this may mean negotiating the sponsorship of their immigrant parents, and for the parents, planning for the emotional, physical, and financial well-being of their children in case of deportation.

Contested Americans is a timely book, filled with vivid storytelling, that shows how immigration policies, racism, and privilege collide in the backdrop of the lives of millions of mixed-status families.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1479800546
• ISBN13: 9781479800544
• Release Date: April 2023
• Publisher: New York University Press
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.0" x 9.0"