Citizenship Rights and Incorporation of Immigrants

Week 3

Thursday, April 15

Announcements:Beyond NAFTA: U.S. and Mexico Moving ForwardDate: Friday, April 23, 2010 4pm-6pmJoan B. Kroc Institute for Peace & Justice Theatre

Featuring:Hermino Blanco Mendoza, PhD, former Mexico Secretaty of Commerce and Industrial Development, chief negotiator for NAFTAAndres Garza Herrera, President CAINTRA (Chamber of Industry for Nuevo Laredo,MX), one of Mexico's most prestigious and influential trade organizationsKevin P. Gallagher, PhD, NAFTA researcher adn associate professor, International Relations, Boston University

(Event is free) Trans-Border Institute | transborder@sandiego.edu | (619)260-4090

La Americana (Documentary on Illegal Immigrants)

Venue: The Loft at UCSD

Time: Thursday, May 6

Talk by Aarti Kohli – “Operation Streamline: Assembly-Line Justice at the Border”

Time: May 18, 2010 at 2 pm

Location: Eleanor Roosevelt Administration Building Conference Room

Different Dimensions of Incorporation

• Civil Rights

• Civic and Political

• Social and Economic

• Cultural and Identificational

Civil Rights:(Basic human security)– Protection from discrimination– Right to speech and religion– Equality before law– Right to free trial– Protection of individual rights and safety– Citizenship may be a prerequisite

Political Rights• Right to vote and run for political office• Freedom of assembly and of association• Freedom of information• Citizenship may be a prerequisite• Formal possession of political rights does not

guarantee political participation. • Socially and economically marginalized or

segregated people will have less time and resources to participate in political life.

Social and Economic Rights

• Right to work

• Equality of opportunity in education, labor market etc)

• Entitlement to health services, education, welfare benefits and social services.

• Historically excluded from formal citizenship rights.

Cultural Rights

• Excluded in liberal/democratic systems of incorporation

• Rights granted to individuals, not to groups• Equality of all peoples (common denominator)

• Multiculturalists: Want to include cultural rights as the ‘fourth dimension’ of citizenship rights. (differentiated citizesnhip)

T.H. Marshall’s conceptualization of citizenship rights:

– 1) Civil rights (Negative rights/protection from)– 2) Political rights (positive rights/right to

participate in political decision making)– 3) Social rights (social citizenship)

• Welfare rights (needing protection, dependent, burden on society)

• Social rights (universal rights achieved by virtue of membership to a political community).

What is Citizenship?

• A central step in the process of formal incorporation. Necessary but NOT sufficient condition for full (substantial) inclusion.

• Confers formal legal status that indicates membership to a nation-state

• Indicates belonging (by drawing legal boundaries between foreigners and nationals)

• Defined in terms of political and legal rights and obligations

How is citizenship acquired?

1. Birthplace, or jus soli, the fact of being born in a territory over which the state maintains, has maintained, or wishes to extend its sovereignty.

2. Bloodline, or jus sanguinis, citizenship as a result of the nationality of one parent or of other, more distant ancestors.

3. Naturalization, acquiring citizenship after birth as a result of marriage or residence

Rules and Practices of Naturalization of Immigrants:

• Period of legal residence (vary between 2 to 12 years)– Australia: 2 years

– USA, France, Canada, the Netherlands, Belgium: 5 years

– Austria and Germany: 10 years

– Switzerland: 12 years

• Good Character– Membership to Communist Party (USA)

– Criminal Acts-Violation of Laws

– Threat to Public Safety and National Security

• Financial independence – People who might become public charge may be denied

citizenship

Factors that influence Naturalization Rates

• Dual Citizenship versus Singular citizenship– Determines the rate of naturalization in a given country – USA, Australia, Canada and France allow dual citizenship– The Netherlands and Sweden allow de facto dual citizenship

• Instrumental Citizenship– 1996 Welfare Reform Act led to higher naturalization rates in the

US– 1994 Prop. 187 in California (a ballot initiative designed to

prohibit illegal immigrants from using healthcare, public education and other basic social services) also motivated Hispanic immigrants to naturalize

Individual/Group Level Factors that effect Naturalization Decision

• Ethnicity– Asians naturalize in higher rates than Latinos

• Immigration History of the Group– Cubans naturalize in higher rates than other

Latino groups

• Age and SES Levels– Older, wealthier and more educated

naturalize in higher numbers

• Presence of Ethnic Networks and Associations (Know-how)

Historical Models of Citizenship

• Imperial

• Republican

• Liberal/Democratic

• Pluralist /Multiculturalist

(How) is citizenship changing in the global era?

• Transnational /universal citizenship:– Transnational communities of the global era

transcend the boundaries of the nation-state.– Neo-liberal economic and trade policies and

increased human/labor movements challenge national rules.

– Survival of nation-state depends of accommodation of members with multiple allegiances, belongings and identities.

Is Nation-State Relevant in the Global World?

• 1)Transnationalism/Universalism:– Concept of citizenship and belonging is changing due

to global forces and international laws such as universal human rights, workers’ rights and immigrant rights.

– Erosion of nation-state and territorial borders– New conceptualization of citizenship is necessary.

(Based on not cultural belonging or nationality, but on residence in a territory)

– Support extending citizenship rights to migrants and minorities

• Soysal—Postnational citizenship• Hammar --Denizenship/quasi-citizenship• Kymlicka--Differentiated citizenship

UN Convention on Migrant Worker Rights (2003)

• Goal: To protect the 175 million migrant workers worldwide who are mostly deprived of basic human and legal rights.

• Only 22 out of 191 UN member states ratified it.

• There was NO developed nation among those 22 states.

• 2) State is still the unitary actor in conferring of immigration and citizenship status and rights– Liberal argument

• From a moral point of view liberal democracies should provide full rights to all members.

– Restrictive-Nativist argument for stricter immigration and citizenship rules

• (Schuck, De-valuation of American Citizenship)

Political Incorporation• What constitutes political incorporation? How do

we measure it? • Naturalization rates• Symbolic representation and cultural recognition• Ability to affect policy outcomes• Mass mobilization• Participation in elections• Claim making• Involvement in local politics (including school

boards)

How do naturalized immigrants compare in terms of political participation? (Junn, 2005)

White Hispanic Asian

Voted in presidential election

 74 19 31

Gave money to a political campaign

19 9 13

Worked with others in local community

 30 14 16

Attended a rally 5 7 7

• DeSipio and de la Garza suggest (1991) that even in local school council elections, through which the immigrants can have a direct affect on their children’s education, immigrants do not exercise their rights.

• Why are immigrants indifferent to politics of the host society?

Political participation rates of Muslim immigrants in Europe:

• Comparative study of public claim making among Muslim immigrants in Germany, and Britain (Koopmans and Statham, 2004)

• Germany: non-existent (immigrants are not recognized. Considered foreigners)

• Britain: Ethnic politics. High claim making on minority status.

• State policies matter

Turks and Moroccans in the NL

• In the NL political participation of Turks are much higher than that of Moroccans

• Why? • Research shows the previous experiences of

Turks with democratic participation at home spills over to their activities in the host society

• Group characteristics and culture matter.

Institutions that facilitate political incorporation

• Historically in the US: Political Parties (The Party Machine)

• Catholic Church• For new immigrants: political parties no longer

involved• Ethnic voluntary associations• Churches/Mosques/Temples (Ebaugh and Smith

“Religion and New Immigrants”, 2000

• Churches and Mosques provide social and political consciousness and promote political participation

• Amaney Jamal, research on Muslim Americans: Mosques facilitate political participation

• Ethnicity and language proficiency also matter