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E. Nory Kaplan-Kelly
6/2/12
Final Paper: Politics of Immigration
PLSC 26913
Prof. Chris Zepeda-Millan
TA: Claudia Sandoval
2
I. Introduction
One of the most frustrating aspects of the United States legal system is the power that one
decision has in influencing how law is interpreted. The same goes for the strategy created to
achieve these decisions. Law is a selfish practice and most cases and strategies are meant to
serve the interests of the parties involved, not those in the future. The consequences of this
practice have been seen in cases dealing with the intersections of queer identity and migration. In
1967 the Supreme Court heard a case entitled Boutilier v. Immigration and Naturalization
Service in which a white gay Canadian migrant battled a clause in the Immigration and
Nationality Act of 1952 which deemed persons with psychopathic personalities deportable.1 As
will be discussed, the strategies of Boutilier and his attorneys created a need for respectability
for queer immigrants fighting deportation.2 Despite failing for Boutilier, this strategies used in
his case have had impact on more modern cases and this impact has often been negative. This
paper seeks to examine the consequences of the Boutilier decision and extend these
consequences to current intersections between sexual, gender, and race identities within
This impact can be examined in the case of Christina Madrazo, a Mexican transgender
woman who fought for recognition of her mistreatment in an immigration detention center.3
Madrazos case exposes how the framework of Boutilier establishes (perhaps inadvertently)
Professor Cathy J. Cohens concept of secondary marginalization within the immigrant and the
queer community.4 This theoretical framework will lead to a discussion of how to fight the
marginalization and I will explore W.E.B. DuBoiss concept of double consciousness as a way
1
Boutilier v. INS, 387 U.S. 118 (1967).
2
Stein, p.67.
3
Madrazos story can be found in Solomon, p.3.
4
Cohen, p.70.
3
of forming mobilizations that have the potential to empower coalitions of migrants of all
identities.5 I will trace this to an examination of recent youth movements and how the concept of
coming out is reshaping how queer migrants are seen and reframing immigration politics to
champion intersections of identities, instead of hiding from them. Finally, I will conclude by
reflecting on these recent mobilizations as a means of reforming how both the queer and
immigration rights communities struggle for legal recognition and by asking the question of
Clive Michael Boutilier was a Canadian citizen who migrated to the United States in 1955.6
In 1959 he both re-entered the country after a brief time in Canada and was arrested on charges
of sodomy in New York. He disclosed this arrest in his application for citizenship in 1963, which
was subsequently denied after he issued a deeper disclosure of his life as a gay man in 1964.
These two disclosures led to an order of his deportation based on a section in the Immigration
and Nationality Act of 1952 which subjected undocumented migrants with psychopathic
personalities to deportation under US law.7 Boutilier challenged the law, arguing that
homosexual persons should not be included under the psychopathic personalities label, and the
case went as far as the Supreme Court of the United States in 1967. The Supreme Court upheld
the clause which led to Boutiliers deportation.8 The Court went as far to find that Congress had
intended for persons with psychopathic personalities to include homosexuals and, even further,
5
DuBois, p.2
6
Boutilier v. INS, 387 U.S. 118 (1967) and Stein, p.48.
7
Ibid.
8
Ibid and Lewis online article.
4
that Congress had the authority to restrict persons from entering the United States (and order
For queer people, immigrants, and especially queer immigrants, this ruling had strong
consequences. Despite a dissenting opinion arguing that homosexuality was being disputed as a
mental illness, the majority of the court established the framework of the homosexual as a
deviant personality within the law and this personality warrants exclusion from the nation.10 This
gave Congress the potential power to deem all homosexuals to be deviant, even if they were
citizens, which contributed to the criminalization of people in the latter half of the 20th century.
From a migration standpoint, this ruling also gives Congress tremendous power to decide who is
eligible and who is ineligible to immigrate to the United States. This power sets up the
foundation for the possibility of Congress to restrict access to this country based on identity
ruling which, while expanding congresss power, set both immigrants and queer people back in
Yet as historian Marc Stein has pointed out, the gay community virtually ignored this
ruling. Steins reasoning is, first, that leaders of the community at the time believed that this case
would only marginally affect gay people.12 However, as Stein expands his argument, it can also
be seen that the conservativeness of the ruling comes from the conservativeness of the approach
that Boutiliers took in presenting him to the court. This presentation is, potentially, more
important to the future of queer immigrant rights than the ruling itself.
9
Ibid.
10
Lewis, online article.
11
See Johnson for a broader discussion of this reasoning.
12
Stein, p.46.
5
In his article All the Immigrants Are Straight, All the Homosexuals Are Citizens, But
Some of Us Are Queer Aliens: Genealogies of Legal Strategy in Boutilier v. INS, Stein
establishes three key areas of Boutiliers defense: 1. Deference to science, 2. Use of analogies to
other social groups, and most importantly for this paper, 3. A strategic politics of
respectability.13 For the purposes of this paper, only the use of analogies and the politics of
involuntary characteristics such as hair color, instead of parallels to religion, sex, or race. 14 The
lawyers reasoning for this was that comparisons of queerness to hair color were less
queerness to that of left-handedness does not do the identity justice to its complexity. This
oversimplification of the identity via comparisons is one of the contributing factors to the
Like with comparisons, the lawyers decision to place Boutilier into a politics of
13
Stein, p.66-69
14
Stein, 67-68
15
Ibid.
6
risked winning a favorable ruling only for the most respectable gay
aliens.16
Thus, the model portrait for a queer undocumented immigrant was painted. Despite the loss in
court, this approach to creating a defendant has become a crucial defense in immigration trials
and LGBTQ based cases. Normalizing the defendant is part of the selfish attitude of the United
States Justice System, as discussed in the introduction. It is based on protecting one individual in
the pretense of serving social groups that that individual represents. By establishing a model of
what is respectable for queer immigrants, a concrete wall was built. As section III will show, this
Christina Madrazo is in many ways the opposite of Clive Michael Boutilier. A transsexual
Mexican woman seeking asylum in the United States, Madrazo was raped twice while in a
Miami immigration detention (by a prison guard) and later filed a civil suit with the federal
This invisibility is not based on Madrazos sex, her gender identity/expression, her race or
undocumented status. Instead, her invisibility stems for a combination of all of social
categorizations that both defy the framework of respectability and bring this story into a new
theoretical ground. Compared to Boutilier, Madrazo is a deviant based on her otherness, her
16
Stein, p. 66-67.
17
Solomon, p.3. (I have been unable to find out whether Madrazo was ever granted asylum or if she won her civil
suit).
18
Solomon, p.14.
7
gender expression is not acceptable, her race and status place her in the category of a problem
and her quest to challenge authority over her treatment makes her even more dangerous. The
very notion of humanness echoes the idea that Madrazo, like all humans, has an identity that is
not linear and instead, is complicated. Yet all of the factors of her identity are codified into (what
others perceive as) a deviant identity that is bent on destroying the status quo and thus render her
invisible in an attempt to combat her. In short, Christina Madrazo is the perfect example of how
the framework set up in Boutilier unwittingly (and presumably unintentionally) created a new
In her book The Boundaries of Blackness: AIDS and the Breakdown of Black Politics,
political scientist Cathy J. Cohen conceptualized power and oppression relations within the black
community. She finds that in oppressed groups there are hierarchies of those who have
privilege and those who do not and that those who have privilege often dominate the discourse
and exercises of power of the group.19 For example, members of black middle class with
financial resources have more power and thus more ability to manage the entire black
community.20 This management is inherently tied to the politics of respectability in two ways:
first, secondary marginalization creates a standard that all members of the community must
adhere to and second, it establishes gaze from the oppressors of the community.21 Cohens
example is the influence of the black Baptist churchs standard of changing individual behavior
as the way to combat AIDS within the black community. This standard was painted as a benefit
for the black community, but as Cohen shows, it also served as way of appeasing the white
gaze, since it also conformed to the rigid norms that white people used to oppress minorities.22
19
Cohen, p.70.
20
Cohen, p.70-71.
21
Ibid.
22
Ibid.
8
This idea of a gaze from an oppressor enforces codes of conduct and codes of presentation of
the oppressed communities. These codes develop a standard that those with privilege within the
group can then manage. This management establishes hierarchies within the oppression and thus,
secondary marginalization.
So what does this have to do with Clive Boutilier and Christina Madrazo? First, in the
context of legal proceedings, Boutilier set a code of behavior and presentation for all
man, he gave an air as being a safe homosexual.24 Madrazo, on the other hand, experienced a
form of secondary marginalization particularly from the gaze of the legal system. Since Madrazo
did not conform to the strict gender and sexual orientation norms established by Boutilier, she
was put at a major legal disadvantage. As Cohen demonstrates, being an individual with
privilege, Boutilier had the resources (and luck of timing) to establish the codes of behavior and
presentation for future cases of queer immigrants. Another complicating factor was race. During
the time of Madrazos confinement and mistreatment, the United States was in a period of
undocumented Mexican migrants into the country.25 From the gaze of the legal system, Boutilier
was a good citizen with an unfortunate condition while Madrazo was a deviant on multiple levels
and, while both were deemed unfit to be in the country, Madrazo was particularly unwelcome.
Another factor of the Latino threat of Madrazos case is its unraveling of the analogies
during the Boutilier defense. Madrazos plight highlights the idea that her race and gender
identity are closer in relation than queerness is to being left handed. This is a shift in the innate
qualities being recognized by the legal gaze as being analogues. Race, sexuality and gender are
23
Non-transgender, cis is the latin root for same so cisgender literally means same gender.
24
Stein, p.67.
25
Chavez, p.23.
9
now similar instead of sexuality and hair color. The root of Madrazos secondary marginalization
is rooted in this change and analogy, her gender is not like her dominant hand, instead it is closer
to her race.
caused by codes of behavior and presentation: Du Boiss theory of double consciousness, and
reframe how queer immigrants are viewed in the legal system, by taking them out of the
In his legendary work, The Souls of Black Folk, scholar W.E.B. Du Bois articulated the
perception, self-image, and political metaphor of blacks in America. Calling his argument
double consciousness, Du Bois wrote that there was twoness to black identity in America:
first an identity as an American citizen, and second, as an other via being black.26 This
social categories as dividers and hierarchies of who is privileged and who is not. In order to
apply double consciousness to the plight of queer migrants and to the cases outlined, the concept
needs to be extended. Instead of simply double consciousness with racial identity, sexual
orientation, gender identity/expression, class and immigration status must also be added to
equation. Double consciousness must become triple, quadruple, or even quintuple consciousness
many ways. This connection promotes the concept of coalition building and ally-ship between
individuals, organizations, and institutions. Expanding double consciousness will also expose
more the systemic social issues that affect and create secondary marginalization within
oppression. This unveiling of systemic social inequalities and oppressions is the first step in
In the conclusion of his book Activism Against AIDS: At the Intersections of Sexuality, Race,
Gender and Class, sociologist Brett C. Stockdill argues for collective consciousness and action
institutions has two benefits in combating oppression and the marginalization associated with it.
First, it removes the oppressed from the constrictive and specific realms of the legal system.
Second, mobilizing movements have the potential for working together to form positive cross-
movement change.28
Historian Temma Kaplan has argued that popular mobilization changes how people see
politics by transforming and liberating space.29 In contrast to courtrooms where security and
rigidity are applauded, demonstrations and movements have the opposite effect. They are open
and have more possibility of reframing discourse. This reframing is central to Stockdills point
that collective action must target multi-faceted parts of society.30 Collective consciousness must
go beyond attempting to solve specific problems, as law seeks to do. The popular transformation
of space has the power to change consciousness on many levels, while law only applies specific
reasoning to specific facts. By taking queer migrant issues out of the courts, there is more
possibility for a change in social consciousness, which may someday influence reform via public
27
Stockdill, p.157-159.
28
Stockdill, p.159.
29
Kaplan, p.4.
30
Stockdill, p.57.
11
opinion. However, this influence is a circuitous process and will take time and many collective
actions to secure a greater consciousness. The first step however, is to continue the movements
of the arena for seeking rights away from courts and into the streets.
But who are the people mobilizing in the streets? Stockdill makes the point that the benefit of
coalitions, can have tremendous power in liberating space. The more people that merge, the more
collective consciousness and actions develop. Alliances can also exemplify the expanding double
consciousness. For example in queer immigrant activism, there is possibility for queer rights
advocates, immigration rights advocates, anti-racism advocates and prison reform advocates to
come together to achieve some anti-oppression based change. All of these social problems can be
deemed an other within consciousness. When all of the social consciousness comes to form
However, this is all good in theory, but may not work well in practice. The idea of oppressed
groups partnering with each other based only on the fact that both groups are oppressed makes
sense on paper, but the reality is more complicated.32 Just because two races are discriminated
against, for example, there is also conflict based on systemic oppressions. These outside
oppressions then influence the social groups themselves which generates more divides (based on
class, gender, or sexual orientation for example). Thus, as socially oppressed groups become
more insular they begin to develop their own politics of respectability (based on these new
privileged hierarchies based on the oppressive gaze) which brings us back to the cycle of
secondary marginalization. The question of alliance building will be explored again in the
31
Stockdill, p.159.
32
Sandoval, p.36.
12
conclusion after a discussion of current double-consciousness movements and the future of queer
immigrant activism.
V. The Future of Queer Migrant Mobilizations: Youth, Internet, and Coming Out
There is a new generation of queer people. The fact that the current generation of LGBTQ
people has reclaimed Queer as an identity and political signifier exposes a desire to embrace
intersection and denounce the politics of respectability. Queer youth are a major faction within
the current generation of LGBTQ people.. As mobilizing forces, queer youth have extreme
potential to take over the movement especially with increase of social media within activist
realms. However, the plight of queer (and especially undocumented) youth is a battle against
what scholar Cindy Cruz calls the culturally approved self of heterosexual and cisgender
identities and citizen status. 33This self is also known as the politics of responsibility. Cruz notes
that pressures of cultural approval lead to silences from undocumented youth, even in so-called
safe spaces for queer youth.34 Her solution to these silences is for adult educators to create
even spaces where intersections between document status and queer identity are recognized and
There is a growing movement of queer undocumented youth that found a home on the
internet as a gateway to the streets. This next section describes two different undocumented
immigrants and undocumented queer immigrant movements dealing with combinations of art,
technology, protest, and advocacy.36 It will also discuss the main tactic that links these two
movements together, the act of coming out as undocumented and queer (both separately and
33
Cruz, p.68.
34
Ibid.
35
Cruz, p. 72-73.
36
There are more than two movements dealing with undocumented immigrants and queer undocumented
migrants, however, I chosen to highlight these two based on their difference as one persons personal movement
and one organizations tactics.
13
Immigrant Youth Justice League (IYJL).37 IYJL is the one of the backing organization of
National Coming Out of the Shadows Days in March since 2011.38 The goal of the event was to
bring together as many undocumented immigrants as possible to share their stories and to protest
for their rights, particularly the DREAM Act (a piece of legislation that would provide some
amnesty for undocumented youth and help those seeking education). The key point of their
mission was not just to come out as undocumented but to create a consciousness based in
courage, being an other in a positive light. Thus, the goal was to empower. This is a prime
example of Kaplans framework of changing space into action through mobilization and
collective consciousness. Space in this case was not just in front of the Daley Center in Chicago
but also on the internet. The organization used YouTube, a video sharing website, to record and
spread their message to activists all over Chicago, Illinois, the United States, and even globally.39
While not the only group to use this medium, IYJLs message was particularly effective because
it utilized empowerment and themes of solidarity to counter the rest of society. In essence, IYJL
created a collective double-consciousness that was then mobilized both on the internet and in real
life.
37
About Us section on the IYJL homepage.
38
Hing, ColorLines Online Article.
39
Particularly good examples are here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=bATPoDrxkAA and here
http://colorlines.com/archives/2011/03/dreamers_come_out_im_undocumented_unafraid_and_unapologetic.ht
ml
14
and queer individuals expressing themselves and since 2011, has turned into a medium of
information about social actions.40 The project developed from Salgados frustration with
mainstream immigration rights activists arguing that undocumented queer immigrants should
hide their sexual orientations and gender identities for the betterment of the greater movement.41
This direct rebuke of the mainstream movement sparked growing subchapters within national
immigration rights agendas to include queer people. This was most prominent in youth-based
organizations. Salgados project was connected to the national organization, United We Dream,
which established a queer safe space and national strategy to include queer undocumented
immigrants particularly youth.42 This work was also echoed by the National Immigrant Youth
Alliance, which created its own project that was also titled UndocuQueer.43 The projects goal
was to connect queer undocumented youth and activists with each other and provide safe spaces
both online and in organizing. Thus, Salgados use of the internet and coming out strategies
The Immigrant Youth Justice League was also affected by the growing voice of queer
undocumented youth. Similar to their Coming Out of the Shadows Day, IYJL held a Coming
Out: Queer and Undocumented event in Chicago in June of 2011.44 This furthered their
empowerment and collective double consciousness rising by adding the new angle of queerness.
It may be better to say that their collective consciousness rising was now triple. The public event
also created a forum for youth to express their intersecting identities and frustrations. One
40
See Salgados personal website and his article in the Huffington Post, Zonkel, and Rivera.
41
Salgado in the Huffington Post
42
Called the Queer Undocumented Immigrant Project (Quip), see Rivera and Mondragon. A video describing their
efforts can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUpAn71qcbg.
43
National Immigration Youth Alliance UndocuQueer Webpage.
44
Carrasco.
15
Carrascos speech has two themes within it: first, it highlights the growing collective double
consciousness expanding and second, it shows the intersection of Coming Out as an organizing
Events like those put on by IYJL and projects like UndocuQueer combat both the politics
empowerment for undocumented people. By queering their movements and representing more
identities, a new normal was established within their social movements. Once recognized by
those being oppressed, this new normal puts pressure on the oppressor to change their power
tactics to adapt to a new status quo. This has benefits and negative effects within social
movements but it shows a growing trend of complexity between the oppressors and the
oppressed in social justice today. This complexity is created by the tactic of Coming Out.
As Carrasco pointed out, coming out was established by the LGBTQ community to reject
societal and cultural acceptance or respectability in order to create a new norm of respectability.
This tactic of coming out of the closet eventually led to (some) acceptance of gays and
lesbians, while bisexuals and transgender people continue to lag behind. With the growing queer
45
Carrasco, quote taken as written.
16
movement, coming out has been a major political act that has been newly connected with many
levels of privilege and power with the LGBTQ community. Visibility is the key to coming out,
which is what makes it such an effective, yet vulnerable, tactic. By merging coming out as queer
with coming out as undocumented, the communities have been linked in their visibility. Time
will tell if this will have a negative or a positive impact on both movements. For now, it seems to
be empowering.
VI. Conclusion: Does Identity affect Coalitions? The Potential of the New Normal
The transition of rhetoric from the Boutilier case to Madrazos struggle to the mobilization of
undocumented queer youth shows a growing trend to create a new normal for understanding
undocumented queer migrants in the United States. This new normal is a rejection and a
counters it with empowerment. As described earlier, the question then becomes whether or not
this creation of a new normal culturally respected identity can affect or even create coalitions?
Since this movement is so new, it is difficult to say. However, as shown in the previous section,
the shared tactic of Coming Out has influenced both movements and particularly transformed
immigration rights spaces. The Immigrant Youth Justice League, in particular has created
literature on the intersection between LGBTQ rights and Immigration rights along with personal
However, this progress still must struggle with the politics established by the tactics used
in Boutilier and the legal selfishness that pervades both queer and immigration policy. Both
movements have been faced (and will continue to face) the difficult question of do we gain
rights for ourselves at the risk of leaving others behind? This has already happened in LGBTQ
46
Project between ALMA and IYJL (can be found at http://www.iyjl.org/?p=2633) and Mukahhal.
17
rights with the gay community betraying the transgender community in employment non-
discrimination legislation.47 Yet, as time changes, communities will become even further
connected and the complex politics of identity will merge. The new normal has potential to
transform how queer advocates and immigration activists view intersections of community
which could create a larger coalition of communities to create new collective consciousness and
new collective active spaces. In order for this to happen, both communities must reject the
politics of respectability, secondary marginalization, and even the courts. Instead, expanding
double consciousness, collective action and space, and mobilizing to the streets will be the key.
47
See Queerty article.
18
7 Simple Reasons Why the LGBTQ Community Needs To Care About Immigrant Rights.
Prepared by the LGBTQ Immigrant Rights Project at the Association of Latino Men for Action
(ALMA) and Posted Online by the Immigrant Youth Justice League. Posted: September 25, 2011.
Accessed: June 2, 2012. http://www.iyjl.org/?p=2633
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Cohen, Cathy J. The Boundaries of Blackness: AIDS and the Breakdown of Black Politics.
Chicago, Illinois and London, England: The University of Chicago Press, 1999.
Cruz, Cindy. Notes on Immigration, Youth, and Ethnographic Silence. Theory Into
Practice. Vol 47, Issue 1. 2008. 67-73.
Du Bois, W.E.B. The Souls of Black Folk. New York: Dover Publications, Inc. Originally
published in 1903, this edition published in 1994.
HRC Finally Ready to Back Trans-Inclusive ENDA. Posted on Queerty Web Page. Posted:
March 26, 2009. Accessed: June 2, 2012. http://www.queerty.com/hrc-finally-ready-to-back-trans-
inclusive-enda-20090326/
Johnson, Kevin R. The Huddled Masses Myth: Immigration and Civil Rights. Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania: Temple University Press, 2004.
Kaplan, Temma. Taking Back the Streets: Women, Youth, and Direct Democracy. Berkley
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building/
Mukahhal, Alaa. I want to know how your heart hurts, too [A challenge to citizens]. Text of
speech posted on Immigrant Youth Justice League Web Page. Posted: April 21, 2012. Accessed:
June 2, 2012. http://www.iyjl.org/?p=2975
Salgado, Julio. Queer, Undocumented and Unafraid. Posted on the Huffington Post. Posted:
October 13, 2011. Accessed: June 2, 2012. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/julio-salgado/queer-
undocumented_b_1007869.html
Sandoval, Claudia. Citizenship and the Barriers to Black and Latino Coalitions in Chicago.
NACLA Report on the Americas. November/December 2010. 2010. 36-39.
Solomon, Alisa. Trans/Migrant. Queer Migrations: Sexuality, U.S. Citizenship, and Border
Crossings. Edited by Eithne Luibhid and Lionel Cant Jr. Minneapolis, Minnesota and London,
England: The University of Minnesota Press, 2005.
Stein, Marc. All the Immigrants Are Straight, All the Homosexuals Are Citizens, But Some of Us
Are Queer Aliens: Genealogies of Legal Strategy in Boutilier v. INS. Journal of American Ethnic
History. Vol. 29, No. 4. Summer, 2010. 2010. 45-77.
Stockdill, Brett C. Activism Against AIDS: At the Intersections of Sexuality, Race, Gender,
and Class. Boulder, Colorado and London, England: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2003.
UndocuQueer. Posted on the National Immigration Youth Alliance Web Page. Accessed:
June 2, 2012. http://theniya.org/undocuqueer/
Unzueta, Tania. The Politics of Coming Out. Interview posted on the Immigrant Youth
Justice League Web Page. Posted: July 13, 2011. Accessed: June 2, 2012.
http://www.iyjl.org/?p=2414
Zonkel, Philip. Julio Salgado is out and proud; he's gay, undocumented. Posted on Out in
the 562, part of InsideSoCal.com. Posted: January 13, 2011. Accessed: June 2, 2012.
http://www.insidesocal.com/outinthe562/2011/01/undocumented-gay-college-students.html,