"Ellos creen que los Puertorriqueños somos inmigrantes": Encountering Incompatible Legal and Social Understandings of Citizenship in Florida

This panel explores how State imposed categories defining individuals’ legal status (e.g. undocumented, refugee, citizen) are lived, contested, and re-defined on the ground. It captures how three unique Latina/o groups... [ view full abstract ]

This panel explores how State imposed categories defining individuals’ legal status (e.g. undocumented, refugee, citizen) are lived, contested, and re-defined on the ground. It captures how three unique Latina/o groups negotiate questions of citizenship and belonging across immigration status, legal contexts, and intersectional identities. The first two papers explore how the claims-making processes of undocumented Mexican-origin young adults differ across legal context, specifically across states (California and Georgia) and over time (before and after the implementation of DACA). The second two papers delve into how local processes of racialization and colonial experiences impact claims and understandings of citizenship. Specifically, how undocumented immigrants’ status claims reflect colonial/racial projects unique to urban global spaces, and how the broader racialization of Latinos as foreign and colonial legacies impact Puerto Ricans’ understandings of their “legally” defined citizenship. Through these cases, this panel addresses how conceptions of “worth” and “deservingness” evolve across groups and in distinct contexts as individuals seek to carve out a space for themselves in the national community.

Ariana J. Valle
Drawing on the experiences of 95 Puerto Ricans in Orlando, Florida, I capture the disjuncture in how citizenship is experienced on the ground. Although Puerto Ricans perceive U.S. citizenship as formal status and rights, particularly the right to enter and exit the U.S., they do not feel accepted as full members of the “American” community because of the Island's colonial status, their Spanish-language, and being Latino. Further, I capture how migratory factors – settlement in the mainland and becoming aware of immigrants’ struggles with legal status – contribute to changing notions of citizenship overtime. Overall, I illuminate the tension between legal definitions of citizenship and social conceptions of membership.