Interrogating “Urban Citizenship”vis-à-visUndocumented Migration

This article critically interrogates the emerging literature on cities and citizenship, with specific reference to undocumented, “illegal”, or irregular migrant status. It first identifies and discusses three major approaches in the cities and citizenship literature, namely: normative, rescaling, and agency-centered approaches. It then interrogates this literature through the lens of migrant legal status and entertains a normative vision of urban citizenship in which a person would become a “citizen” not by explicit consent of fellow citizens, but merely by presence and residence in a place. While the immediate possibilities for such an unbounded, “grounded” citizenship are small, the article takes lessons from this model and discusses a fourth approach to cities and citizenship which explores the contemporary creation of urban “citizenship” policies for undocumented migrants in the United States. It concludes by discussing four brief examples of these local policies: (1) the contemporary struggle to reinstate local noncitizen voting, (2) the increasing acceptance of matrículas consulares as a valid form of identification for undocumented Mexican residents, and the debates over whether or not states should (3) issue driver licenses to undocumented migrants and (4) allow undocumented students to pay in-state tuition for public colleges and universities. Global cities are spaces where the very meaning, content and extent of citizenship are being made and transformed. (Isin, 2000 Isin, E. 2000. Democracy, Citizenship and the Global City, New York: Routledge. [Google Scholar], p. 6) … It's ridiculous that becoming a citizen in the US is a problem. I've been here for 17 years! This is my home. You need to make a difference where you live! (Undocumented resident of Los Angeles1 1 I interviewed this individual as part of my research on undocumented migrants and residents in Los Angeles who, somewhat paradoxically, have been participating in campaign politics and “get out the vote” drives run by their labor unions. For a thorough discussion and analysis of this field work, see Varsanyi (2005 Varsanyi. 2005. The paradox of contemporary immigrant political mobilization: organized labor, undocumented migrants, and electoral participation in Los Angeles. Antipode, 37(4): 775–795. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]). Quotation translated from Spanish. )