Socially Undocumented: Identity and Immigration Justice

What does it really mean to be undocumented, particularly in the contemporary United States? Political philosophers, immigration policy makers, and others have tended to define the term undocumented migrant legalistically-that is, in terms of lacking legal authorization to live and work in one’s current country of residence. In Socially Undocumented, Reed-Sandoval challenges this legalistic understanding by arguing that being socially undocumented is to possess a real, visible, and embodied social identity that does not always track one’s legal status. She further argues that achieving immigration justice in the U.S. (and elsewhere) requires a philosophical understanding of the racialized, class-based, and gendered components of socially undocumented identity and oppression. Socially Undocumented offers a new vision of immigration justice by integrating a descriptive and phenomenological account of socially undocumented identity with a normative and political account of how the oppression with which it is associated ought to be dealt with as a matter of social justice. It also addresses concrete ethical challenges such as the question of whether open borders are morally required, the militarization of the Mexico-U.S. border, the perilous journey that many migrants undertake to get to the United States, the difficult experiences of the women who cross U.S. borders seeking prenatal care while pregnant, and more.