Entitled to Nothing

by Park, Lisa Sun-Hee

• ISBN13: 9780814768020
• ISBN10: 0814768024
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-09-01
• Publisher: New York Univ Pr

Summary

In Entitled to Nothing, Lisa Sun-Hee Park investigates how the politics of immigration, health care, and welfare are intertwined. Documenting the formal return of the immigrant as a "public charge," or a burden upon the State, the author shows how the concept has been revived as states adopt punitive policies targeting immigrants of colour and require them to "pay back" benefits for which they are legally eligible during a time of intense debate regarding welfare reform. In this book, Park delves into one of the front lines of the battle over the boundaries of citizenship and nation and the meaning of social rights.Park argues that the notions of "public charge" and "public burden" were reinvigorated in the 1990s to target immigrant women of reproductive age for deportation and as part of a larger project of "disciplining" immigrants. Drawing on nearly 200 interviews with immigrant organizations, government agencies and safety net providers, as well as careful tracking of policies and media coverage, Park provides vivid, first-person accounts of how struggles over the "public charge" doctrine unfolded on the ground, as well as its consequences for the immigrant community. Ultimately, she shows that the concept of "public charge" continues to lurk in the background, structuring our conception of who can legitimately access public programs and of the moral economy of work and citizenship in the U.S., and makes important policy suggestions for reforming our immigration system.

Author Biography

Lisa Sun-Hee Park is Associate Professor of Sociology and Asian American Studies at the University of Minnesota and author or coauthor of a number of books, including The Slums of Aspen: Immigrants vs. The Environment in America's Eden.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. vii
The Politics of Immigrant Reproduction	p. 1
The Health of the Welfare State	p. 31
The Politics of Public Charge	p. 54
Living with Uncertainty under Ever-Shifting State Policy	p. 88
Fear and Loathing at the Border	p. 115
Bearing the Burden of Welfare Reform	p. 139
Research Methods	p. 155
Summary of Provisions of Federal Welfare and Immigration Reform Affecting Health Care Access	p. 159
Notes	p. 161
Bibliography	p. 179
Index	p. 193
About the Author	p. 205
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