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This video is a transcript of a conversation between a researcher, Alejandro, and an interviewer discussing Alejandro’s research on the immigrant rights movement, particularly in the context of solidarity and morality. Alejandro shares insights from his participant observation in two organizations in El Paso, Texas—one a legal aid office and the other a migrant shelter—that both engage with migrants and asylum seekers.

Key points include:

1. **Context of Research**: Alejandro focused on how solidarity is practiced through care work, aiming to understand its moral dimensions within social movements.

2. **Findings on Care Work**: He discovered that care work in these organizations is predominantly about providing support to migrants, which can be emotionally taxing due to the interpersonal nature of the work and the challenging political environment during the Trump administration.

3. **Familial Morality**: The researchers found that a strong theme of familial morality emerged in both organizations, influencing their commitment to helping migrants. Staff members often reflect on their own or their families' migration histories, creating personal connections to their work.

4. **Variations in Experience**: While the legal aid office staff engaged more intellectually and reflected on their migration stories, the shelter staff focused on everyday domestic tasks, leading to a different type of familial attachment to the migrants they assist.

5. **Burnout and Commitment**: Alejandro observed that many who participate in this work experience burnout, raising questions about how they maintain their commitment despite the difficulties.

6. **Implications for Future Research**: Alejandro expressed interest in exploring how migrants perceive their interactions with both movement organizations and the state, as well as how similar movements function in other contexts, such as Mexico.

Overall, the research highlights the complex interplay of moral commitments and personal histories in the immigrant rights movement, demonstrating how these factors shape social movement engagement and organizational dynamics.

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Here are 5 key points from the video:

1. **Research Focus on Solidarity**: The speaker investigates the immigrant rights movement, particularly how solidarity is practiced daily among individuals supporting migrants and asylum seekers. The interest stems from observing support manifested through demonstrations, art, and, crucially, care work.

2. **Care Work and Its Challenges**: The study reveals that solidarity in these organizations primarily takes the form of care work, which includes providing support and services to migrants. However, this care work is identified as emotionally and convideoually challenging, especially due to the socio-political climate during the Trump administration, which created a difficult environment for immigration support work.

3. **Emotional and Moral Dimensions of Commitment**: The speaker explores the moral and emotional aspects that motivate individuals to remain committed despite burnout and the arduous nature of care work. This commitment is often linked to familial themes, where caregivers draw on personal or family histories of migration as a source of motivation and empathy.

4. **Organizational Differences and Impact on Engagement**: The research compares two organizations: a legal aid office composed mostly of local Mexican American women and a shelter staffed by mostly non-local volunteers. The nature of care and the backgrounds of staff members are shown to significantly influence the expression of familial morality and community attachment within each organization.

5. **Future Research Directions**: The speaker expresses interest in exploring the perspectives of migrants and asylum seekers regarding their interactions with care organizations and the emotional ties that develop. Additionally, there is a desire to investigate how similar movements function in different countries and convideos, particularly in Mexico, to understand the dynamics of caregiver-migrant relationships across varying cultural landscapes.

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Here are some key quotes from the video, which focuses on the immigrant rights movement, solidarity, and care work:

1. **On the Start of Research:**
- "I research on the immigrant rights movement, started with my interest in solidarity."

2. **On the Nature of Solidarity:**
- "I wanted to see how solidarity is practiced on the everyday… demonstrations of support online. You might also see, artistic… support, right?"

3. **On Findings in El Paso:**
- "What I found is that, um, solidarity is mostly practiced through care work."

4. **On the Definition of Care Work:**
- "Care work is any kind of interpersonal assistance or work… to develop the capabilities of the care receivers."

5. **On the Challenge of Care Work:**
- "I realized that this is very difficult work because of the interpersonal nature of it… they were operating in a very difficult convideo."

6. **On Emotional and Moral Components of Commitment:**
- "I realized that there was this emotional and moral component to the work that they were doing."

7. **On Familial Themes:**
- "In these organizations, it has a very clear familial theme."

8. **On Moral Shock:**
- "Moral shock is… this kind of reaction… to experiencing or witnessing an event… that is just in total contradiction to their own worldview."

9. **On the Importance of Morality in Social Movements:**
- "What I’m trying to show is that morality is also something that is, um, shaped in the movement itself."

10. **On the Role of Care Workers:**
- "I observed that… the care work practiced in the immigrant rights movement creates these emotional spaces… for people to feel comfortable sharing their problems."

11. **On Personal Experience and Privilege:**
- "I migrated to the US when I was 10 years old… how privileged I was and how I migrated to the country."

12. **On Future Research Interests:**
- "I'd like to continue exploring these different interactions with migrants… how they feel about all these movement organizations… what do they make of it?"

These quotes encapsulate the themes of the video, including solidarity, care work, moral engagement, personal experience, and the dynamics within the immigrant rights movement.

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Here are some articles that are similar in theme and content to the video you about Alejandro’s research on the immigrant rights movement:

1. **"Solidarity Across Borders: The Role of Care Work in Refugee Support Organizations"**
This article dives into the experiences of individuals working in NGOs that provide assistance to refugees. It highlights the emotional challenges of care work and the personal histories that often motivate staff in the field.

2. **"Familial Narratives and Moral Engagement in Social Movements"**
This piece explores how personal and family migration histories play a crucial role in shaping the moral frameworks of activists involved in immigrant rights movements, contributing to a deeper understanding of their commitment to the cause.

3. **"Burnout Among Social Justice Workers: Strategies for Sustaining Commitment in Challenging Times"**
This article investigates the phenomenon of burnout among workers in social justice organizations, specifically in the immigrant rights sector, and discusses strategies that individuals employ to sustain their engagement and motivation.

4. **"The Emotional Labor of Caring: Insights from Migrant Shelters"**
Focusing on the experiences of staff in migrant shelters, this research examines the emotional toll of care work and how the daily responsibilities influence staff's relationships with the migrants they assist.

5. **"Political Convideos and the Dynamics of Solidarity in Immigrant Advocacy"**
This article analyzes how changing political climates, particularly during the Trump administration, affected the practices of solidarity and support within organizations that advocate for immigrant rights.

6. **"Migrant Perspectives: Understanding the Interactions with Rights Organizations"**
This research offers insight into how migrants perceive their relationships with NGOs and governmental bodies, particularly focusing on the sentiments of trust and mistrust that shape these interactions.

7. **"Intersections of Care Work and Activism: Lessons from Community Organizations"**
This article highlights various community organizations that engage in care work for migrant populations, reflecting on how personal narratives and communal support contribute to their activism.

8. **"Transnational Ties and Solidarity: Examining the Immigrant Rights Movement in Mexico and the U.S."**
This comparative study looks at how immigrant rights movements in different convideos (the U.S. and Mexico) handle solidarity and care work, with an emphasis on cultural and historical influences.

These articles address similar themes of solidarity, care work, emotional challenges, moral commitments, and the experiences of both activists and migrants within the convideo of immigrant rights movements.

X-TIMESTAMP-MAP:LOCAL=00:00:00.000,MPEGTS=900000

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I research on the immigrant rights movement, started

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with my interest in solidarity.

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Um, I was interested in how people

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demonstrated support for people

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who might be in a difficult situation like migrants or,

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or maybe people who are a victim of, other type

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of state violence, for example.

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So I wanted to see how solidarity is,

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practiced on the everyday.

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'cause I seen, you know, demonstrations of support online.

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Um, you might also see, artistic,

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you know, support, right?

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Like, songs

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or films right, that, are kind of supporting

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or showing solidarity with a particular group.

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Um, but I wanted to see it on, on, on, on a day-to-Day, what

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that kind of looked like.

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So I started, doing,

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participant observation in two social movement organizations

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on the US Mexico border, particularly in the city

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of, of El Paso.

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And what I found is that,

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solidarity is mostly practiced, through care work.

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Um, the members of these,

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movement organizations are providing some sort of support

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or services to migrants and asylum seekers.

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Um, so yeah, that, that, that's one

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of the first things I found.

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Um, but then I also found that this kind

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of care work is, is very difficult.

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And I'll just note that care work, just to kind

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of provide a definition, is any kind of interpersonal,

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assistance

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or work, that you do in order to

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develop the capabilities of the care receivers, right?

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So, very, you know, common examples of care,

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care work are like, nursing or teaching, right?

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Teachers, doctors, social workers, in some instances,

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even even lawyers, right?

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So, doing this work,

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participating in these activities, I realized

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that this is very difficult work,

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because of the interpersonal nature of it.

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Also, because they were operating in a very

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difficult context.

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They, this was during the middle

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of the Trump administration.

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So the way a lot

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of immigration laws being were being applied,

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were being implemented, was, changing.

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And there were also new policies that were coming down from,

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from the administration

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that were making this work very difficult.

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So, so I saw that a lot

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of people in these organizations were burnout, burnt out.

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Um, it was kind of like an endemic thing.

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So then my interest became like, well,

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how do these people keep going?

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How do they keep their commitment, to this kind of,

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difficult, of work?

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So, eventually I realized that there was this emotional

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and moral component to, to,

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to the work that they were doing.

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Um, so my aim of this paper was to kind of explore, try

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to understand the moral dimension of commitment.

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Um, and I found that in these organization,

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it organizations, it has a very clear familial theme.

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Um, and what my, what I mean by that is that the kind

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of stories or narratives that caregivers,

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kind of reflect on to kind of explain their commitment have

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to do with, with the idea of family, either their own

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families or, or new families,

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that they might see themselves,

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forming in, in, in this context.

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The literature on morality

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and social movements is, I think, very interesting

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because it kind of explains

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or tries to show how morality leads

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to certain kinds of behavior.

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So one of the most, popular, I guess, ideas,

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in this literature is, mortal shock.

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Um, according to James Jasper, moral shock is, kind

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of, this kind of reaction, to experiencing

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or witnessing an event

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or reading about it, looking,

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you know, watching it on the news.

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Something that just kind of, is in total contradiction

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to their own worldview, that is just,

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it just doesn't fit, or it,

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or they feel like it shouldn't be the case, right?

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So this kind of outrage or anger

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or maybe sadness kind of leads them to, get engaged to,

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to start participating in a movement

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or to form their own group.

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Um, this literature also points to perhaps, member,

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individuals who are outside the movement,

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maybe celebrities or some sort of other, you know,

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respected individual kind of promoting

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or endorsing a movement.

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So that also kind of provides some sort of moral,

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encouragement for people to just get involved.

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Um, another way in which morality kind

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of matters in social movements is just

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how it shapes the practices within a movement.

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So, for example, we see this, we saw this very recently

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with the encampments in, university campuses,

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across the United States,

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and in many parts of the world, these encampments,

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sometimes involve a lot of reflection and discussion, right?

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Uh, talking about the pain

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and suffering of, of other individuals who might be victims

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of state violence.

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So, here we kind of see morality, kind of,

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guiding those, those practices, for movements

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that are kind of religiously oriented.

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Uh, sometimes they incorporate rituals

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or maybe in reflections they talk about,

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biblical themes.

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So again, you know, another way in which,

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morality might kind of get people, motivated

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or, or, kind of, keeps them engaged.

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Um, and another, interesting way,

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that we see morality shaping movement activity is just,

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kind of, providing sort, sort

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of principle about individual behavior.

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Uh, the environmental movement, for example,

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is very good at kind of, promoting this kind

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of consumer culture, right?

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That we shouldn't consume as much meat,

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or we should buy electric cars

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or, stop using straws, that kind of thing.

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So that might happen within the movement,

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or even outside, even for people who are not like,

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participating in the movement day in and day out.

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Um, and even basic principles like the golden rule,

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you know, it's, that has been

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espoused by the feminist movement.

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Um, so again, you know, those are just a few,

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few ways in which morality is getting, behavior.

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In my case, what I'm trying to show is that morality

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is also something that is, shaped

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in the movement itself, right?

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In the, in the everyday actions of the movement, that itself

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can, trigger some sort of,

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moral reflection about why

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participants are doing what they're doing, right?

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Why, why they should stay committed.

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And this is particularly relevant in the case of, of the,

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of the Immigrant Rights Movement, just

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because, the work, is so, so difficult.

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Um, so I, I observed that,

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and the care work practiced in the immigrant rights

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movement, creates these emotional spaces, these kind

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of intimate spaces.

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Um, and we would expect this from, from care work

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because care workers kind of have

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to create these safe spaces for people to feel,

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comfortable sharing their, the problems or their issues.

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I conducted participant observation in two movement

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organizations in El Paso, Texas.

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This is right on the, on the US Mexico border.

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And these organizations are part

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of this broader immigrant rights movement

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that we see in the us and, and it even spans across borders.

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And what the movement, the broad movement is trying

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to do is mostly just protect the rights of migrants

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and asylum seekers, and also expand their rights in

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particular areas.

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Um, so in my study, I, I look at two organizations.

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The first one is a legal aid office that I call compromiso.

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And this,

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organization provides accessible low cost services

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to migrants in the El Paso region.

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Um, and these services can be anything from asylum,

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asylum, you know, representation.

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Um, it could be adjustment of status, also,

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for example, helping, the dreamers get the, the,

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their daca, status.

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So a broad array of, of services.

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And I was a, a, a volunteer

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and eventually became like a staff member there,

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for about six months.

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And then I was also participating at a migrant shelter

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for about seven months.

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And that shelter provides,

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historically just had just helped, migrants

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who had just crossed the border, kind

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of just give them a space for them to, to rest

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and perhaps think of what they could do next.

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Um, but since about around 2014,

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the shelter started taking a lot of asylum seekers

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who had already been processed by immigration.

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Um, these are people who came to the US Mexico border,

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claimed asylum, and they were processed, they were detained

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for a couple of days, and then they were released, to,

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to go with their family members

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or to friends that they might have in the us.

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Um, mainly

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because the, the, the, the US government doesn't have spaces

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to hold, so many people, especially

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to hold family units.

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Um, so they're released

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and the shelter kind of provide support, helping them,

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kind of, organize their,

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their travel arrangements.

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Uh, so they might stay there for one day or, or three days.

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Um, so yeah, I, I also lived in the shelter along

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with the other volunteers,

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and I did, you know, at the shelter, I would, you know,

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have do shifts there.

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I would, there's all these sorts of tasks

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and assignments that all the staff have in order

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to keep the shelter running at the legal aid office,

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I was a, like a, a paralegal, so I would help

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with the research for asylum cases.

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I would also help with translations, just anything

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that they needed me, with.

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Um, something to point out about these organizations is

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that they, they're not very well resourced.

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Um, El Paso is not a particularly wealthy city.

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And these organizations also, yeah,

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they did not have enough staff,

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so they rely heavily on volunteers.

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Um, when I was at the legal aid office, there was,

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only one attorney on staff.

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So, so that, demanded, again, a lot of work.

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And this is part of the reason why, everyone was

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so, burnt out.

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Um, and something else I wanna say about the,

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the organizations is how they're, they're composed.

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So the, the legal aid office, was composed of mostly,

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Mexican American women,

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or people who have lived in El Paso for, for a while.

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And in the case of the shelter, most

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of those staff members were, not non-local.

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They were from other parts of the us.

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Uh, they also tended to be women, middle class,

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and, and also white.

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So these are, very, kind of distinct,

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compositions that, that also shape the culture

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of each organization.

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I did participant observation, which involves observation

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and writing these, these notes, every day if possible.

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And I also conducted interviews with members

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of each organization as well as with, members

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of other organizations in the city

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that were conducting similar work.

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Um, so yeah, that, that's mostly what I did.

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And I also did a little bit of, archival research on,

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on the history of mutual organization, as well as, just,

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the context of, of immigration

12:24.535 --> 12:27.235
and, in El Paso, the ways that,

12:28.595 --> 12:29.935
the different waves and,

12:29.935 --> 12:32.455
and the different ways that organizations in El Paso have

12:32.455 --> 12:35.615
helped migrants and asylum seekers, throughout history.

12:35.935 --> 12:39.055
I find this, this familial morality in both organizations.

12:39.795 --> 12:43.015
And, what it, what's particularly interesting is

12:43.015 --> 12:44.775
that the way that the familial morality

12:45.495 --> 12:47.855
manifests in each organization is different.

12:48.635 --> 12:51.815
At Compromiso, the legal aid office, I find that

12:52.575 --> 12:55.935
familial morality has to do with,

12:56.065 --> 13:00.215
reflection about staff members,

13:00.675 --> 13:01.895
own history of migration

13:01.915 --> 13:03.895
or their family's history of migration.

13:04.755 --> 13:07.695
So the kind of work that is done in the,

13:07.975 --> 13:10.415
in the legal aid office is in a sense,

13:10.415 --> 13:11.695
kind of intellectual, right?

13:11.715 --> 13:14.855
You interview, asylum seekers of migrants,

13:14.875 --> 13:18.055
you ask them about their life histories,

13:18.445 --> 13:21.415
what they did in their home countries, why they decided

13:21.475 --> 13:22.775
to, to leave their country.

13:23.715 --> 13:25.615
Uh, they tell you a little bit about their journey

13:25.715 --> 13:26.935
to the us, right?

13:26.995 --> 13:30.455
So it involves a kind of very, comprehensive

13:31.245 --> 13:32.295
idea of their life, right?

13:32.295 --> 13:34.935
And also a lot of, they provide a lot of information about,

13:35.395 --> 13:36.695
their persecution, right?

13:36.695 --> 13:39.415
About violence that they might encounter,

13:39.515 --> 13:40.855
or that they might have been a victim of.

13:40.955 --> 13:44.255
So, so this kind of,

13:44.885 --> 13:49.815
knowledge about migrants, in a sense triggers their,

13:50.515 --> 13:53.735
reflections about their own families, right?

13:53.735 --> 13:55.855
About how they might have migrated

13:55.855 --> 13:57.655
or how their families might have migrated.

13:58.395 --> 14:02.215
Um, and that kind of, I guess conversation

14:02.325 --> 14:05.455
that they keep having with themselves about,

14:06.465 --> 14:08.175
about migration, kind of,

14:08.175 --> 14:10.935
keeps them interested in the work and keeps them engaged,

14:10.955 --> 14:15.535
and it gives them, sort of meaning, in the case

14:15.535 --> 14:18.975
of the shelter, they're not doing this kind

14:18.975 --> 14:20.055
of intellectual labor, right?

14:20.055 --> 14:23.095
They're living in a, basically a huge house

14:23.095 --> 14:24.175
with other migrants.

14:24.875 --> 14:27.135
Um, and most of the conversations,

14:27.195 --> 14:29.135
or most of the interactions have to deal

14:29.135 --> 14:31.495
with very domestic things, right?

14:31.555 --> 14:35.775
So like preparing meals, playing with children, getting

14:35.835 --> 14:38.815
to know, about, you know, migrants

14:38.815 --> 14:43.615
or asylum seekers, home countries, yeah,

14:44.435 --> 14:47.295
the shelter has a, a, a clothing bank.

14:47.395 --> 14:49.695
So, you know, finding clothes for, for everyone.

14:49.755 --> 14:52.005
So, you know, these interactions kind

14:52.005 --> 14:56.865
of promote a different, kind of reflections

14:57.045 --> 15:00.265
or, or, or attachments to the kind of work

15:00.265 --> 15:01.505
and to migrants themselves.

15:02.245 --> 15:03.705
Uh, so in the sense when,

15:03.705 --> 15:06.345
when they start talking about why they do this kind of work

15:06.365 --> 15:10.105
or why they stay, it has to do a lot about this kind of

15:10.625 --> 15:12.105
familial obligation, right?

15:12.105 --> 15:15.705
They, they talk about their, their attachments as the kind

15:15.705 --> 15:16.745
of attachment that you would have

15:16.745 --> 15:18.265
to your own family members, right?

15:18.365 --> 15:20.785
To, to, to, to your husband

15:21.045 --> 15:22.905
or to, to, to, to your mother, right?

15:22.905 --> 15:25.105
Like, how can you leave your child, right?

15:25.105 --> 15:26.505
That they, they would say things like that,

15:26.525 --> 15:29.545
or How could you ignore so and so, right?

15:29.605 --> 15:33.905
You, you have to, keep, you know, providing for them or,

15:33.965 --> 15:35.825
or assisting them in some way.

15:36.325 --> 15:38.305
And even when they, when they leave, I think in the,

15:38.305 --> 15:41.105
in the article I talk about the, the, the director

15:41.105 --> 15:43.585
of the shelter thinking about how, you know,

15:43.685 --> 15:47.385
making this comparison to how when children leave

15:47.685 --> 15:49.985
for college or, you know, they leave the house, right?

15:50.525 --> 15:53.185
Um, is that same kind of, feeling, right?

15:53.185 --> 15:55.305
That you just kind of have to let them go and,

15:55.325 --> 15:56.705
and make their own life.

15:57.445 --> 16:01.065
So, so yeah, those are the two, two main differences.

16:01.725 --> 16:03.225
And as I've kind of already alluded

16:03.225 --> 16:06.265
to the main reasons why is one, the kind of work

16:06.375 --> 16:07.985
that they're doing, right, the kind of work

16:07.985 --> 16:10.625
that each organization is very different,

16:11.205 --> 16:12.385
and also the background

16:12.565 --> 16:16.385
of the caregivers themselves in the legal aid office,

16:17.285 --> 16:18.345
the, the paralegals

16:18.345 --> 16:21.745
and the attorney, you know, have this history of,

16:21.765 --> 16:23.185
of migration in the shelter.

16:24.245 --> 16:28.665
Um, the mostly non-local caregivers don't have that history

16:28.665 --> 16:30.265
of migration, or it's not very recent.

16:31.125 --> 16:35.105
Um, so they cannot relate to migrants in that sense, right?

16:35.205 --> 16:38.185
The way that, it happens in, in the, in the shelter.

16:38.965 --> 16:43.115
Um, so ultimately what I argue is that,

16:43.785 --> 16:47.885
what this implies is that what migrant, what,

16:47.885 --> 16:51.685
social movements do day in and day out in, in the every day,

16:52.025 --> 16:55.005
and who is doing that work,

16:55.625 --> 16:58.325
shapes the moral dimension of commitment.

16:58.985 --> 17:01.045
Um, and this kind

17:01.045 --> 17:04.045
of gets a little bit bit away from the idea that it,

17:04.425 --> 17:06.045
you know, that it's just ideology.

17:06.045 --> 17:09.925
That ideology is why, why people join the movement,

17:09.985 --> 17:11.845
and that's why people kind of stay, right?

17:11.845 --> 17:14.965
That what I'm trying to say is that there's kind of a, a,

17:14.965 --> 17:18.005
there's a, a set of ideas or, or,

17:18.145 --> 17:23.125
or moral sense that is developed within the movement itself,

17:23.145 --> 17:25.965
within the, the activities of the movement.

17:26.585 --> 17:29.205
Um, so that might represent a change, right?

17:29.205 --> 17:32.005
The reasons why they might have joined the movement

17:32.305 --> 17:33.565
change with time, right?

17:33.585 --> 17:38.165
And, and they become a bit more, specific in this case.

17:38.825 --> 17:40.525
Um, yeah.

17:40.905 --> 17:43.925
And, and I'll also just point out that this idea that

17:43.925 --> 17:46.925
that family is an important kind of frame

17:47.105 --> 17:49.325
for the immigrant rights movement is, is not new.

17:49.445 --> 17:51.445
A lot of other scholars have pointed this out.

17:52.145 --> 17:56.415
Um, but, what, what I, what I try

17:56.415 --> 17:59.815
to emphasize here is that the way that family,

18:01.415 --> 18:04.015
manifests right in, in, in, in the way

18:04.015 --> 18:06.855
that people talk about their engagement,

18:07.915 --> 18:09.545
might be different based on, on

18:09.545 --> 18:11.385
what they're doing in the movement and,

18:11.405 --> 18:12.945
and how they're interacting with,

18:13.095 --> 18:14.625
with migrants and asylum seekers.

18:14.825 --> 18:16.065
I am myself a migrant.

18:16.585 --> 18:19.905
I, I migrated to the US when I was 10 years old.

18:20.885 --> 18:24.625
So, certainly, it certainly, for example,

18:24.765 --> 18:28.225
at the legal aid office, I, it, it certainly made me realize

18:28.325 --> 18:31.545
how privileged I was and how I migrated to the country.

18:32.365 --> 18:34.145
Um, and,

18:34.165 --> 18:36.945
and of course, you know, I also maintained kind

18:36.945 --> 18:38.425
of like a, let's call it like an,

18:38.645 --> 18:40.345
an academic distance to it, right?

18:40.365 --> 18:45.235
So, so I could, I could also kind

18:45.355 --> 18:49.595
of, analyzed all these different stories

18:49.815 --> 18:52.755
and different cases that I came across within, you know,

18:52.755 --> 18:55.115
the broader literature of, of migration

18:55.255 --> 18:57.995
and how the immigration system has changed through time.

18:58.095 --> 19:02.315
So, so yeah, I, I also experienced that at the, at the,

19:02.695 --> 19:05.435
at the legal aid office and at the shelter also, definitely,

19:05.735 --> 19:09.795
the sense of, even solidarity

19:09.795 --> 19:11.035
with other staff members.

19:11.855 --> 19:16.475
Um, the, the kind of experiences that you're exposed to,

19:16.775 --> 19:20.715
create a very interesting, connection with, with other,

19:20.975 --> 19:24.205
staff members, so much so that a lot

19:24.205 --> 19:26.445
of them keep coming back, to the shelter.

19:26.695 --> 19:30.325
Maybe they can't, volunteer for as long as they did

19:30.325 --> 19:32.885
that first time, which is usually about a year.

19:33.625 --> 19:37.405
Um, but they certainly, you know, have very fond memories

19:37.405 --> 19:38.885
of their time in, in the shelter,

19:39.265 --> 19:42.925
and they, they, a lot of them also,

19:43.355 --> 19:46.885
stay engaged in, in immigration issues, you know, even

19:46.975 --> 19:48.965
after, their time there.

19:49.585 --> 19:51.245
Um, and yeah, and,

19:51.265 --> 19:53.485
and you also, develop very,

19:53.485 --> 19:55.205
close sometimes close relationships

19:55.205 --> 19:57.565
with individual migrants and asylum seekers.

19:57.625 --> 19:59.245
You, you care for them,

19:59.705 --> 20:02.485
and a lot of them, you know, you, you,

20:02.625 --> 20:04.325
you also feel concerned, right?

20:04.325 --> 20:05.845
When they decide to leave the shelter.

20:06.465 --> 20:08.165
Um, you're also concerned about that.

20:08.165 --> 20:11.365
You're worried about what's gonna happen to them,

20:11.705 --> 20:13.405
how their case will turn out.

20:14.105 --> 20:18.645
Um, so yeah, it's, it's quite, an experience,

20:18.945 --> 20:22.365
that, that you, you know, that stays with you.

20:23.145 --> 20:27.365
Um, and that, I believe probably continues to,

20:28.065 --> 20:32.925
to shape how, how these individuals, stay engaged with,

20:33.035 --> 20:34.605
with politics generally,

20:34.605 --> 20:38.845
but also, with the cause of migrants and asylum seekers.

20:38.985 --> 20:43.885
Hey, I'm interested in, I guess in, in terms of,

20:43.885 --> 20:48.715
future research, I would like to just, like

20:48.715 --> 20:52.035
to continue this, exploring these different,

20:53.595 --> 20:56.515
I guess, interactions with, with migrants.

20:56.555 --> 20:59.555
I think it'd be interesting to know, the way

20:59.555 --> 21:02.755
that migrants and asylum seekers feel about all these,

21:02.755 --> 21:05.555
interactions with, with caregivers in the United States.

21:06.215 --> 21:10.665
Um, I think there's some research on, on

21:10.685 --> 21:12.865
how they feel about, you know, the way that the state

21:12.885 --> 21:14.505
and state agencies treat them.

21:15.085 --> 21:16.785
But it'd be interesting to see also how,

21:16.885 --> 21:19.025
how they feel about all these movement organizations,

21:19.275 --> 21:21.425
these churches and other religious institutions.

21:22.165 --> 21:24.065
Um, what do they make of it?

21:24.765 --> 21:29.425
Um, so that is something that, that I am interested in.

21:30.505 --> 21:35.125
Uh, generally, it'd be interesting also

21:35.185 --> 21:39.925
to keep, just exploring how this movement,

21:40.265 --> 21:44.445
in other countries perhaps, how it's, it develops

21:44.445 --> 21:46.445
and the kind of connections that people make.

21:47.025 --> 21:50.125
Uh, for example, I'm interested in, in similar context in,

21:50.125 --> 21:54.885
in Mexico, to see if the, the different,

21:55.245 --> 22:00.115
I guess, context shapes the types of attachments

22:00.115 --> 22:03.315
that people make, with migrants and asylum seekers.

22:03.935 --> 22:07.755
Um, so that, that could also, I think that that's also very,

22:07.825 --> 22:10.315
very interesting that, and I would like to keep exploring,

22:10.385 --> 22:11.075
exploring that.

00:00 - I research on the immigrant rights movement, started with my interest in solidarity. I was interested in how people demonstrated support for people who might be in a difficult situation like migrants or, or maybe people who are a victim of, other type

00:20 - of state violence, for example. So I wanted to see how solidarity is, practiced on the everyday. 'cause I seen, you know, demonstrations of support online. you might also see, artistic, you know, support, right? Like, songs or films right, that, are kind of supporting or showing solidarity with a particular group. but I wanted to see it on, on, on, on a day-to-Day, what

00:48 - that kind of looked like. So I started, doing, participant observation in two social movement organizations on the US Mexico border, particularly in the city of, of El Paso. And what I found is that, solidarity is mostly practiced, through care work. the members of these, movement organizations are providing some sort of support or services to migrants and asylum seekers.

01:21 - so yeah, that, that, that's one of the first things I found. but then I also found that this kind of care work is, is very difficult. And I'll just note that care work, just to kind of provide a definition, is any kind of interpersonal, assistance or work, that you do in order to develop the capabilities of the care receivers, right? So, very, you know, common examples of care,

01:50 - care work are like, nursing or teaching, right? Teachers, doctors, social workers, in some instances, even even lawyers, right? So, doing this work, participating in these activities, I realized that this is very difficult work, because of the interpersonal nature of it. Also, because they were operating in a very difficult context. They, this was during the middle

02:18 - of the Trump administration. So the way a lot of immigration laws being were being applied, were being implemented, was, changing. And there were also new policies that were coming down from, from the administration that were making this work very difficult. So, so I saw that a lot of people in these organizations were burnout, burnt out. it was kind of like an endemic thing.

02:42 - So then my interest became like, well, how do these people keep going? How do they keep their commitment, to this kind of, difficult, of work? So, eventually I realized that there was this emotional and moral component to, to, to the work that they were doing. so my aim of this paper was to kind of explore, try to understand the moral dimension of commitment. and I found that in these organization,

03:11 - it organizations, it has a very clear familial theme. and what my, what I mean by that is that the kind of stories or narratives that caregivers, kind of reflect on to kind of explain their commitment have to do with, with the idea of family, either their own families or, or new families, that they might see themselves, forming in, in, in this context. The literature on morality and social movements is, I think, very interesting

03:44 - because it kind of explains or tries to show how morality leads to certain kinds of behavior. So one of the most, popular, I guess, ideas, in this literature is, mortal shock. according to James Jasper, moral shock is, kind of, this kind of reaction, to experiencing or witnessing an event or reading about it, looking, you know, watching it on the news.

04:14 - Something that just kind of, is in total contradiction to their own worldview, that is just, it just doesn't fit, or it, or they feel like it shouldn't be the case, right? So this kind of outrage or anger or maybe sadness kind of leads them to, get engaged to, to start participating in a movement or to form their own group. this literature also points to perhaps, member, individuals who are outside the movement,

04:43 - maybe celebrities or some sort of other, you know, respected individual kind of promoting or endorsing a movement. So that also kind of provides some sort of moral, encouragement for people to just get involved. another way in which morality kind of matters in social movements is just how it shapes the practices within a movement. So, for example, we see this, we saw this very recently with the encampments in, university campuses,

05:12 - across the United States, and in many parts of the world, these encampments, sometimes involve a lot of reflection and discussion, right? talking about the pain and suffering of, of other individuals who might be victims of state violence. So, here we kind of see morality, kind of, guiding those, those practices, for movements that are kind of religiously oriented. sometimes they incorporate rituals

05:42 - or maybe in reflections they talk about, biblical themes. So again, you know, another way in which, morality might kind of get people, motivated or, or, kind of, keeps them engaged. and another, interesting way, that we see morality shaping movement activity is just, kind of, providing sort, sort of principle about individual behavior. the environmental movement, for example,

06:17 - is very good at kind of, promoting this kind of consumer culture, right? That we shouldn't consume as much meat, or we should buy electric cars or, stop using straws, that kind of thing. So that might happen within the movement, or even outside, even for people who are not like, participating in the movement day in and day out. and even basic principles like the golden rule, you know, it's, that has been

06:42 - espoused by the feminist movement. so again, you know, those are just a few, few ways in which morality is getting, behavior. In my case, what I'm trying to show is that morality is also something that is, shaped in the movement itself, right? In the, in the everyday actions of the movement, that itself can, trigger some sort of, moral reflection about why participants are doing what they're doing, right?

07:14 - Why, why they should stay committed. And this is particularly relevant in the case of, of the, of the Immigrant Rights Movement, just because, the work, is so, so difficult. so I, I observed that, and the care work practiced in the immigrant rights movement, creates these emotional spaces, these kind of intimate spaces. and we would expect this from, from care work because care workers kind of have

07:42 - to create these safe spaces for people to feel, comfortable sharing their, the problems or their issues. I conducted participant observation in two movement organizations in El Paso, Texas. This is right on the, on the US Mexico border. And these organizations are part of this broader immigrant rights movement that we see in the us and, and it even spans across borders. And what the movement, the broad movement is trying to do is mostly just protect the rights of migrants

08:12 - and asylum seekers, and also expand their rights in particular areas. so in my study, I, I look at two organizations. The first one is a legal aid office that I call compromiso. And this, organization provides accessible low cost services to migrants in the El Paso region. and these services can be anything from asylum, asylum, you know, representation. it could be adjustment of status, also,

08:47 - for example, helping, the dreamers get the, the, their daca, status. So a broad array of, of services. And I was a, a, a volunteer and eventually became like a staff member there, for about six months. And then I was also participating at a migrant shelter for about seven months. And that shelter provides, historically just had just helped, migrants

09:16 - who had just crossed the border, kind of just give them a space for them to, to rest and perhaps think of what they could do next. but since about around 2014, the shelter started taking a lot of asylum seekers who had already been processed by immigration. these are people who came to the US Mexico border, claimed asylum, and they were processed, they were detained for a couple of days, and then they were released, to, to go with their family members

09:46 - or to friends that they might have in the us. mainly because the, the, the, the US government doesn't have spaces to hold, so many people, especially to hold family units. so they're released and the shelter kind of provide support, helping them, kind of, organize their, their travel arrangements. so they might stay there for one day or, or three days.

10:16 - so yeah, I, I also lived in the shelter along with the other volunteers, and I did, you know, at the shelter, I would, you know, have do shifts there. I would, there's all these sorts of tasks and assignments that all the staff have in order to keep the shelter running at the legal aid office, I was a, like a, a paralegal, so I would help with the research for asylum cases. I would also help with translations, just anything

10:44 - that they needed me, with. something to point out about these organizations is that they, they're not very well resourced. El Paso is not a particularly wealthy city. And these organizations also, yeah, they did not have enough staff, so they rely heavily on volunteers. when I was at the legal aid office, there was, only one attorney on staff. So, so that, demanded, again, a lot of work.

11:12 - And this is part of the reason why, everyone was so, burnt out. and something else I wanna say about the, the organizations is how they're, they're composed. So the, the legal aid office, was composed of mostly, Mexican American women, or people who have lived in El Paso for, for a while. And in the case of the shelter, most of those staff members were, not non-local. They were from other parts of the us.

11:39 - they also tended to be women, middle class, and, and also white. So these are, very, kind of distinct, compositions that, that also shape the culture of each organization. I did participant observation, which involves observation and writing these, these notes, every day if possible. And I also conducted interviews with members of each organization as well as with, members of other organizations in the city

12:07 - that were conducting similar work. so yeah, that, that's mostly what I did. And I also did a little bit of, archival research on, on the history of mutual organization, as well as, just, the context of, of immigration and, in El Paso, the ways that, the different waves and, and the different ways that organizations in El Paso have helped migrants and asylum seekers, throughout history. I find this, this familial morality in both organizations.

12:39 - And, what it, what's particularly interesting is that the way that the familial morality manifests in each organization is different. At Compromiso, the legal aid office, I find that familial morality has to do with, reflection about staff members, own history of migration or their family's history of migration. So the kind of work that is done in the, in the legal aid office is in a sense,

13:10 - kind of intellectual, right? You interview, asylum seekers of migrants, you ask them about their life histories, what they did in their home countries, why they decided to, to leave their country. they tell you a little bit about their journey to the us, right? So it involves a kind of very, comprehensive idea of their life, right? And also a lot of, they provide a lot of information about,

13:35 - their persecution, right? About violence that they might encounter, or that they might have been a victim of. So, so this kind of, knowledge about migrants, in a sense triggers their, reflections about their own families, right? About how they might have migrated or how their families might have migrated. and that kind of, I guess conversation that they keep having with themselves about,

14:06 - about migration, kind of, keeps them interested in the work and keeps them engaged, and it gives them, sort of meaning, in the case of the shelter, they're not doing this kind of intellectual labor, right? They're living in a, basically a huge house with other migrants. and most of the conversations, or most of the interactions have to deal with very domestic things, right?

14:31 - So like preparing meals, playing with children, getting to know, about, you know, migrants or asylum seekers, home countries, yeah, the shelter has a, a, a clothing bank. So, you know, finding clothes for, for everyone. So, you know, these interactions kind of promote a different, kind of reflections or, or, or attachments to the kind of work and to migrants themselves. so in the sense when,

15:03 - when they start talking about why they do this kind of work or why they stay, it has to do a lot about this kind of familial obligation, right? They, they talk about their, their attachments as the kind of attachment that you would have to your own family members, right? To, to, to, to your husband or to, to, to, to your mother, right? Like, how can you leave your child, right? That they, they would say things like that,

15:26 - or How could you ignore so and so, right? You, you have to, keep, you know, providing for them or, or assisting them in some way. And even when they, when they leave, I think in the, in the article I talk about the, the, the director of the shelter thinking about how, you know, making this comparison to how when children leave for college or, you know, they leave the house, right? is that same kind of, feeling, right? That you just kind of have to let them go and,

15:55 - and make their own life. So, so yeah, those are the two, two main differences. And as I've kind of already alluded to the main reasons why is one, the kind of work that they're doing, right, the kind of work that each organization is very different, and also the background of the caregivers themselves in the legal aid office, the, the paralegals and the attorney, you know, have this history of,

16:21 - of migration in the shelter. the mostly non-local caregivers don't have that history of migration, or it's not very recent. so they cannot relate to migrants in that sense, right? The way that, it happens in, in the, in the shelter. so ultimately what I argue is that, what this implies is that what migrant, what, social movements do day in and day out in, in the every day, and who is doing that work, shapes the moral dimension of commitment.

16:58 - and this kind of gets a little bit bit away from the idea that it, you know, that it's just ideology. That ideology is why, why people join the movement, and that's why people kind of stay, right? That what I'm trying to say is that there's kind of a, a, there's a, a set of ideas or, or, or moral sense that is developed within the movement itself, within the, the activities of the movement. so that might represent a change, right?

17:29 - The reasons why they might have joined the movement change with time, right? And, and they become a bit more, specific in this case. yeah. And, and I'll also just point out that this idea that that family is an important kind of frame for the immigrant rights movement is, is not new. A lot of other scholars have pointed this out. but, what, what I, what I try to emphasize here is that the way that family,

18:01 - manifests right in, in, in, in the way that people talk about their engagement, might be different based on, on what they're doing in the movement and, and how they're interacting with, with migrants and asylum seekers. I am myself a migrant. I, I migrated to the US when I was 10 years old. So, certainly, it certainly, for example, at the legal aid office, I, it, it certainly made me realize

18:28 - how privileged I was and how I migrated to the country. and, and of course, you know, I also maintained kind of like a, let's call it like an, an academic distance to it, right? So, so I could, I could also kind of, analyzed all these different stories and different cases that I came across within, you know, the broader literature of, of migration and how the immigration system has changed through time.

18:58 - So, so yeah, I, I also experienced that at the, at the, at the legal aid office and at the shelter also, definitely, the sense of, even solidarity with other staff members. the, the kind of experiences that you're exposed to, create a very interesting, connection with, with other, staff members, so much so that a lot of them keep coming back, to the shelter. Maybe they can't, volunteer for as long as they did that first time, which is usually about a year.

19:33 - but they certainly, you know, have very fond memories of their time in, in the shelter, and they, they, a lot of them also, stay engaged in, in immigration issues, you know, even after, their time there. and yeah, and, and you also, develop very, close sometimes close relationships with individual migrants and asylum seekers. You, you care for them,

19:59 - and a lot of them, you know, you, you, you also feel concerned, right? When they decide to leave the shelter. you're also concerned about that. You're worried about what's gonna happen to them, how their case will turn out. so yeah, it's, it's quite, an experience, that, that you, you know, that stays with you. and that, I believe probably continues to, to shape how, how these individuals, stay engaged with,

20:33 - with politics generally, but also, with the cause of migrants and asylum seekers. Hey, I'm interested in, I guess in, in terms of, future research, I would like to just, like to continue this, exploring these different, I guess, interactions with, with migrants. I think it'd be interesting to know, the way that migrants and asylum seekers feel about all these, interactions with, with caregivers in the United States. I think there's some research on, on

21:10 - how they feel about, you know, the way that the state and state agencies treat them. But it'd be interesting to see also how, how they feel about all these movement organizations, these churches and other religious institutions. what do they make of it? so that is something that, that I am interested in. generally, it'd be interesting also to keep, just exploring how this movement, in other countries perhaps, how it's, it develops

21:44 - and the kind of connections that people make. for example, I'm interested in, in similar context in, in Mexico, to see if the, the different, I guess, context shapes the types of attachments that people make, with migrants and asylum seekers. so that, that could also, I think that that's also very, very interesting that, and I would like to keep exploring, exploring that.

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