Making Immigrant Rights Real: Nonprofits and the Politics of Integration in San Francisco - Softcover

"Taking stock of the important role that local nonprofits play in the lives of immigrants is required for a full understanding of immigrant integration in America. Els de Graauw's deftly crafted account is required reading for anyone who hopes to cut through the heated political rhetoric of the immigration debate to understand how the politics of immigration actually happens." -- Tomas R. Jimenez, author of Replenished Ethnicity "In Making Immigrant Rights Real, Els de Graauw engages with three fascinating cases of immigrant nonprofits' involvement in city politics and program implementation. The author brings to bear evidence from a well-executed, original survey of immigrant nonprofits, as well as incisive quotes from in-depth interviews with nonprofits' leaders and staff, elected officials, and public administrators. The tripartite model de Graauw devises to show how immigrant nonprofits make gains for their clients in local politics is insightful and well supported by the evidence presented." -- Paul G. Lewis, Arizona State University, author of Shaping Suburbia: How Political Institutions Organize Urban Development "Immigrant rights become real when they're actually implemented and enforced. Els de Graauw's important book reveals how San Francisco's immigrant-serving nonprofits quietly, mostly invisibly, but very effectively overcame legal restrictions and limited resources to become powerful political actors advocating for immigrant rights, mediating between local government and the immigrant community, and converting policy on paper into policy in practice. Highly recommended." -- Richard DeLeon, author of Left Coast City "Els de Graauw tells us something new about the role of nonprofits at the local level in advancing immigrant rights. She shows that nonprofits achieve success by effectively using three strategies: administrative advocacy, collaboration across sectors and with other types of nonprofit organizations, and strategic issue framing." -- Mara Sidney, author of Unfair Housing "De Graauw weaves a convincing story of collaborative efforts at the local level that provide a reasonably secure safety net for immigrants in the San Francisco metropolitan area." * ILR Review * "This book is a must read for those who are interested in immigrant rights and the process of integration of immigrants into the larger social environment." * JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY AND SOCIAL WELFARE *

More than half of the 41 million foreign-born individuals in the United States today are noncitizens, half have difficulty with English, a quarter are undocumented, and many are poor. As a result, most immigrants have few opportunities to make their voices heard in the political process. Nonprofits in many cities have stepped into this gap to promote the integration of disadvantaged immigrants. They have done so despite notable constraints on their political activities, including limits on their lobbying and partisan electioneering, limited organizational resources, and dependence on government funding. Immigrant rights advocates also operate in a national context focused on immigration enforcement rather than immigrant integration. In Making Immigrant Rights Real, Els de Graauw examines how immigrant-serving nonprofits can make impressive policy gains despite these limitations.Drawing on three case studies of immigrant rights policies-language access, labor rights, and municipal ID cards-in San Francisco, de Graauw develops a tripartite model of advocacy strategies that nonprofits have used to propose, enact, and implement immigrant-friendly policies: administrative advocacy, cross-sectoral and cross-organizational collaborations, and strategic issue framing. The inventive development and deployment of these strategies enabled immigrant-serving nonprofits in San Francisco to secure some remarkable new immigrant rights victories, and de Graauw explores how other cities can learn from their experiences.