Enforcement versus Contributions

This Marketplace American Public Media story reminds me of the power of what Massey and Sànchez (2010) call "framing" (the collective attitude  that undocumented immigrants are "illegal"and a threat to national security) or anti-immigrant discourse in comparison to the contributions that undocumented immigrants provide to the country. In their 2010 book, Brokered Boundaries: Creating Immigrant Identity in Anti-immigrant Times, Massey and Sànchez point to how immigrants are received in the U.S. (a rise in anti-immigrant times in the current day) plays a tremendous role in how they eventually come to view their own identity as part of or apart from the United States and how they view the United States, itself.  To see and listen to this show go to:

http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2010/09/27/am-impact-of-undocumented-on-local-biz/

                                                                           Reference

Massey, D. S., &  Sànchez R, M. (2010). Brokered boundaries: Creating immigrant identity in anti-immigrant times. NY: Russell Sage Foundation.