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The Good Immigrant Worker: 2013 US Senate Bill 744, Color-Blind Nativism and the Struggle for Comprehensive Immigration Reform

Author

Listed:
  • Nazli Kibria

    (Boston University)

  • Megan O’Leary

    (Boston University)

  • Cara Bowman

    (Boston University)

Abstract

We explore immigration politics in the contemporary USA through analysis of the political framing of 2013 US Senate Bill 744, especially among its supporters. SB 744 is a bipartisan comprehensive immigration reform proposal that called for the largest overhaul of the immigration system in more than 25 years; it was passed in June 2013 by the US Senate but blocked in the House. Through analysis of the 2012–2013 textual content of the official websites and blogs of six US immigration lobby organizations from across the political spectrum, we offer a typology of political framings of comprehensive immigration reform. Drawing on popular anti-immigrant rhetoric, organizations with an agenda of immigration restriction and deterrence battled against the bill. On the other side, supporters of the bill ranged from business coalitions to immigrant rights groups, an assortment of interests that was reflected in the variety of arguments advanced in favor of the bill. Despite the far more fragmented character of pro-SB 744 discourse in comparison to that advanced by the opposition, our investigation suggests the ongoing and contested formation of a strategic pro-SB 744 framing that centered on the “good immigrant worker,” a “race-blind” trope that melds US nationalist narratives of immigration with an ethos of neoliberalism that upholds individual merit and market value to create a notion of “deservingness” that affirms the worth of immigrants as diligent workers.

Suggested Citation

  • Nazli Kibria & Megan O’Leary & Cara Bowman, 2018. "The Good Immigrant Worker: 2013 US Senate Bill 744, Color-Blind Nativism and the Struggle for Comprehensive Immigration Reform," Journal of International Migration and Integration, Springer, vol. 19(1), pages 1-13, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:joimai:v:19:y:2018:i:1:d:10.1007_s12134-017-0516-2
    DOI: 10.1007/s12134-017-0516-2
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Steger, Manfred B. & Roy, Ravi K., 2010. "Neoliberalism: A Very Short Introduction," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199560516.
    2. Gary P. Freeman & Bob Birrell, 2001. "Divergent Paths of Immigration Politics in the United States and Australia," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 27(3), pages 525-551, September.
    3. Marrow, Helen B., 2012. "Deserving to a point: Unauthorized immigrants in San Francisco’s universal access healthcare model," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 74(6), pages 846-854.
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