In this thesis, I examine the complexities and particularities of immigration activism in the state of New York, with an ethnographic case study of an activist group working to support immigrant communities in the region, 'NICE.' This case study is contextualized within a broad history of Hispanic immigration to the U.S. and the origins of crimmigration policies like those currently used by Trump's DHS.
The history of Hispanic immigration, specifically, is a very complex one that is essential to understanding the relationship between the U.S. and the rest of America. Hispanic immigration to the U.S. is not happenstance; it is a direct result of U.S. imperialism and extractivism in the region. This thesis covers some of this history, which has preceded this new era of "crimmigration": the criminalization of immigration. Crimmigration has served to justify the tactics and policies used against immigrants in the U.S., and in turn, has allowed the U.S. to dodge accountability for its imperialist history. This project explores what the repercussions of this era of crimmigration have specifically amounted to in the U.S., and how the conditions of the present day have shaped activism and organizing in support of immigrant communities. Crimmigration has also justified the criminalization of any support towards immigrants, regardless of citizenship. Now, individuals who would have considered themselves protected by these policies and tactics targeting immigrants find themselves targeted and affected by them, too. My fieldwork reveals that activists and individuals who would have considered themselves part of what I call the 'non-affected' are either finding themselves in, or placing themselves within, the 'affected' category of those impacted by DHS.
Through an ethnographic case study analysis of the activist group 'NICE' alongside the history of criminalized immigration, this thesis analyzes the ways in which activists organize in the present day to support immigrant communities and addresses this nexus of the affected with the non-affected. By examining activism in the greater state of New York, I explore the particularities of the nature of the organizing being conducted in communities that lack a large immigrant community presence, the specific motivations and challenges presented by this kind of work, and the shift of those who are targeted for engaging in it.