From Alaska to Florida, millions of immigrants and their supporters took to the streets across the United States to rally for immigrant rights in the spring of 2006. The scope and size of their protests, rallies, and boycotts made these the most significant events of political activism in the United States since the 1960s. This accessibly written volume offers the first comprehensive analysis of this historic moment. Perfect for students and general readers, its essays, written by a multidisciplinary group of scholars and grassroots organizers, trace the evolution and legacy of the 2006 protest movement in engaging, theoretically informed discussions. The contributors cover topics including unions, churches, the media, immigrant organizations, and immigrant politics. Today, one in eight U.S. residents was born outside the country, but for many, lack of citizenship makes political voice through the ballot box impossible. This book helps us better understand how immigrants are making their voices heard in other ways.

From Alaska to Florida, millions of immigrants and their supporters took to the streets across the United States to rally for immigrant rights in the spring of 2006. The scope and size of their protests, rallies, and boycotts made these the most significant events of political activism in the United States since the 1960s. This accessibly written volume offers the first comprehensive analysis of this historic moment. Perfect for students and general readers, its essays, written by a multidisciplinary group of scholars and grassroots organizers, trace the evolution and legacy of the 2006 protest movement in engaging, theoretically informed discussions. The contributors cover topics including unions, churches, the media, immigrant organizations, and immigrant politics. Today, one in eight U.S. residents was born outside the country, but for many, lack of citizenship makes political voice through the ballot box impossible. This book helps us better understand how immigrants are making their voices heard in other ways.

List of Illustrations
Preface
Acknowledgments

What Happened? The Historically Unprecedented Mobilizations of Spring 2006
1. The Protests of 2006: What Were They, How Do We Understand Them, Where Do We Go?
Irene Bloemraad, Kim Voss, and Taeku Lee

2. Groundswell Meets Groundwork: Building on the Mobilizations to Empower Immigrant Communities
Ted Wang and Robert C. Winn

Mobilization Dynamics: Why and How the Protests Happened
3. Mobilization en Español: Spanish-Language Radio and the Activation of Political Identities
Ricardo Ramírez

4. Building the Labor-Clergy-Immigrant Alliance
Randy Shaw

5. From Prayer to Protest: The Immigrant Rights Movement and the Catholic Church
Luisa Heredia

6. Mobilizing Marchers in the Mile-High City: The Role of Community-Based Organizations
Lisa M. Martinez

7. Migrant Civic Engagement
Jonathan Fox and Xóchitl Bada

8. Regarding Family: New Actors in the Chicago Protests
Amalia Pallares and Nilda Flores-González

9. It’s a Family Affair: Intergenerational Mobilization in the Spring 2006 Protests
Irene Bloemraad and Christine Trost

Looking Forward: Whither American Politics and Immigrant Rights Mobilization?
10. LA’s Past, America’s Future? The 2006 Immigrant Rights Protests and Their Antecedents
Ruth Milkman

11. Drawing New Lines in the Sand: Evaluating the Failure of Immigration Reforms from 2006 to the Beginning of the Obama Administration
Louis DeSipio

12. The Efficacy and Alienation of Juan Q. Public: The Immigration Marches and Latino Orientations toward American Political Institutions
Francisco I. Pedraza, Gary M. Segura, and Shaun Bowler

13. Out of the Shadows, into the Light: Questions Raised by the Spring of 2006
Roberto Suro

References
Contributors
Index