Mothers without citizenship

About this book

In August 1996 President Bill Clinton signed the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act that fulfilled his campaign promise to “end welfare as we know it,” and one month later the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act passed, deepening restrictions on immigrant and welfare provisions. These acts harshly and disproportionately affected Asian immigrants who continue to experience the legacy of this legislation today. Fujiwara reveals the ill effects of welfare reform on Asian immigrant women and families. Intertwining the issues of social and legal citizenship and arguing that these draconian measures redefined immigrants as outsiders whose lack of citizenship was used to deem them ineligible for public benefits, Fujiwara shows how these people are both a vulnerable, invisible group and active agents of change. From publisher description.