STORIES OF BELONGING: CENTRAL AMERICAN TPS WORKERS & THE DEFIANT STRUGGLE TO STAY HOME IN THE U.S.

There are approximately 325,000 Central American workers with Temporary Protective Status (TPS) fully employed in the U.S. today, who have resided and worked in the U.S. for more than 25 years. Many of them have mixed immigration family households: their kids might be American citizens, DACA holders and/or undocumented children. Workers with TPS have built their lives in the U.S., owning homes and businesses, working hard, contributing to their communities by paying taxes and engaging in civic organizations, advocating for their children’s future, and fighting for their right to a path to permanent residency and citizenship. They feel at home in the United States — they are at home. “Stories of Belonging” explores the history of their struggle for rights and justice as migrant workers, for union organizing and the right to American citizenship.

HISTORIAS DE PERTENENCIA: TRABAJADORES CENTROAMERICANOS CON ESTATUS DE PROTECCIÓN TEMPORAL (TPS) Y LA LUCHA DESAFIANTE POR PERMANECER EN SU HOGAR EN LOS EE. UU.

Actualmente, hay aproximadamente 325,000 trabajadores centroamericanos con Estatus de Protección Temporal (TPS) empleados a tiempo completo en los Estados Unidos, quienes han residido y trabajado en los EE. UU. durante más de 25 años. Muchos de ellos tienen hogares con familias con estatus migratorios mixtos; sus hijos pueden ser ciudadanos estadounidenses, beneficiarios de DACA y/o niños indocumentados. Los trabajadores con TPS han construido sus vidas en los EE. UU., siendo propietarios de viviendas y negocios, trabajando arduamente, contribuyendo a sus comunidades, pagando impuestos, y participando en organizaciones cívicas. Abogan por el futuro de sus hijos y luchan por su derecho a un camino hacia la residencia permanente y a la ciudadanía americana. Se sienten en su hogar en los Estados Unidos — están en su hogar. “Historias de Pertenencia” explora la historia de la lucha por los derechos y la justicia para los trabajadores migrantes, la organización sindical y el derecho a ser ciudadano americano.

Sol Aramendi is a socially engaged artist and educator working with immigrant communities throughout New York. She is the founder of Project Luz, a nomadic program that uses art as a tool of empowerment. Project Luz Participatory Practice promotes change around fairer labor and immigration conditions.

Francely Flores is an independent photojournalist and educator, born in Houston, Texas (Occupied Karankawa Land) and raised in the Bronx, New York (Occupied Lenape Land). She focuses on documenting the stories of Indigenous peoples; specifically immigrants, and Bronx residents. Her camera is used as a tool to connect with working class community members to support the elevation of their stories by documenting actions of resistance, traditional dances, practices, gatherings, and celebrations.

Dr. Patricia Campos-Medina is a researcher, Cornell RTE Faculty, and labor educator focusing on the intersection of race, immigration status, and workers’ rights. She is a Senior Extension Associate Faculty and the Executive Director of the Worker Institute at the School of Industrial and Labor Relations at Cornell University, where she leads research, policy innovation, and training to advance worker justice, collective bargaining rights, and the interest of workers in today’s economy and society.

She is a political scientist and policy expert on workplace and labor issues, women rights, voting rights, immigrant worker justice, and US trade relations. She holds a PhD from Rutgers University and a BS and MPA from Cornell University. She is a member of Diverse Solidarity Economies (DISE), a collective of Black and Brown feminist scholars focused on research that decolonizes and diversifies the field of political economy. She is a Visiting Fellow at the Eagleton Institute of Politics, Rutgers University-New Brunswick.

Publications:

Beyond Racial Capitalism, Cooperatives in the African Diaspora. Edited by Caroline Shenaz Hossein, Sharon D Wright Austin and Kevin Edmonds. Oxford University Press. Chapter 4: Tandas and Cooperativas: Understanding the financial social economy of indigenous Mexican immigrants settled in Perth Amboy, New Jersey and Staten Island, New York, U.S. by Patricia Campos Medina, School of Industrial and Labor Relations, Cornell University with Sol Aramendi and Erika Nava. Spring 2023: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/beyond-racial-capitalism-9780192868336?cc=us&lang=en&

Intersecting Power Approach to Immigrant Worker Justice. Darlène Dubuisson, Patricia Campos-Medina, Shannon Gleeson, Kate Griffith. (2023). Centering Race in Studies of Low-Wage Immigrant Labor. Annual Review of Law and Social Science 2023 19:1, 109-129.

Not Legal. Not Illegal. Just TPS. Examining the Integration Experience of Central American Immigrants Living under a Regime of Long-Term Temporality. A Dissertation submitted to the Graduate School, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Program in the Division of Global Affairs, Rutgers University-Newark. Written under the direction of Dissertation Committee Chair: Dr. Ariane Chebel d’Appollonia, Rutgers University. Approved October 2019. https://rucore.libraries.rutgers.edu/rutgers-lib/61647/

Current research underway:

Displaced and Uprooted: Stories of Belonging; Cornell Migrations/Carnegie Mellon Fund: Central American TPS Workers’ Defiant Struggle for their Right to Stay Home in US. This ongoing research project is funded by the Cornell Migrations Project (with funds from Carnegie Mellon Fam Fund). Expected publication Spring-Fall 2024

Education:

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD); Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. Department of Global Affairs, Rutgers- Newark. October 2019

Masters of Public Administration (MPA). Cornell University, Ithaca, NY. Cornell Institute of Public Affairs (CIPA). May 1997

Bachelor of Science in Industrial and Labor Relations (BS). Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, May 1996. Cornell’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations (ILR)