Meaghan Teitelman ’18
Project Title – Mobilizing for Immigration Rights and Justice
Other Student Participants – Robyn Madrishin ’17, Cindy Huynh ’18
Mentor – Paul Dean
We are proposing to present a poster in which we highlight three local social movement organizations that deal with immigrant justice and rights, and connect these organizations and their goals to larger issues relating to social movements. Immigration has long been a contentious issue in our country, but with the advent of a new ban put in place on January 27th, and the threat of construction of a wall between the US and Mexico, the importance of immigrant rights groups has undoubtedly increased. Now, perhaps more than ever, immigrants and their allies are taking a stand against these actions being taken that they feel limit the freedoms of United States citizens and seek to create division rather than unity. In talking to the Columbus branch of the ACLU, Ohio Interfaith Immigrant and Migrant Justice Coalition, and Muslim Family Services of Ohio, we are analyzing the ways in which these groups mobilize grievances and seize political opportunities. We hope to highlight how crucial collective action is to the immigration issue, and show how these organizations are promoting real positive change. We will use social movement concepts and theories to explain the efficacy and the drawbacks of the organizations we examine, and seek to understand common strategies in recruiting members and in framing issues. Finally, we will analyze the factors at play that lead to participation in immigrant justice groups.