Book Review: Undocumented fears: Immigration and the politics of divide and conquer in Hazleton, Philadelphia

• DOI: 10.1177/1057567718764271
• Published date: 01 December 2020
• Date: 01 December 2020
• Author: Raffaele Muzzica
• Subject Matter: Book Reviews

Book Reviews

Book Reviews

Longazel, J. (2016).

Undocumented fears: Immigration and the politics of divide and conquer in Hazleton, Philadelphia. Philadelphia, PA:

Temple University Press. XV, 226 pp. $27.95, ISBN 978-1-4399-1268-3.

Reviewed by: Raffaele Muzzica, Department of Law, University of Naples, Naples, Italy

DOI: 10.1177/1057567718764271

Undocumented Fears by Jamie Longazel is a detailed analysis about Illegal Immigration Relief Act

(IIRA) in author’s hometown, Hazleton, PA, in 2006. IIRA was a local ordinance that set penalties

for renting to or hiring undocumented immigrants and declared English the city’s official language.

The author demonstrates that politics surrounding the Hazleton case have much in common with

national and international debate about immigration patterns. In fact, the so-called Latino Threat

Narrative, fueled by economic and s ocial crisis, contributes to the co nstruction of a racialized

community identity (White affirmation) that embraces exclusionary immigration policies (Latino

degradation). Moreover, this narrative contributes to the perpetuation of social inequality because it

enhances the exploitability of immigrants workers and it conveys working-class Whites animosity

toward “illegal aliens,” stunting the formation of not-racialized, class-based coalitions that could

pursue economic justice. Although immigration debate is often masked as a race-neutral defense for

the rule of law, the author highlights that exclusionary rhetoric about legal status is often an entry

point for a discussion about larger racialized fears.

The author blends sociological reasoning with the analysis of single stories, interviews, news

reports, trial and city council transcripts; this makes the book interesting and appealing for the

audience.

Structurally, the book is broken into four chapters. The first chapter purports to lay out how

broader political economic forces created economic uncertainty and prompted immigration back-

lash. The author investigates the history of Hazleton’s primary community economic development

group, CAN DO. The organization was started with a fund drive, encouraging community spirit, but

it was affected by the rise of neoliberalism in the 1980s. That influence prompted a more business-

like approach expressed in tax incentives instead of original community-based model. The economic

shift attracted temporary employment firms, whose low wages and poor working conditions ulti-

mately became an immigrants magnet. This process was fertile ground for the Latino Threat

Narrative to take root.

The second chapter focuses on a comparative analysis of the media coverage and community

reaction of two homicides committed in Hazleton: the first a Latino-on-Latino murder, the latter the

killing of a White resident for which two undocumented Latino immigrants were initially charged.

While the first case was considered an unfortunate and rare incident, the second case embodied

Latino Threat Narrative in the context of immigration debate. As a result, IIRA ordinance was

introduced just 36 days after the White resident murder.

The third and fourth chapters describe majority reactions against immigrants community and

their allies. Specifically, the third chapter focuses on first activists mov ements: their outcry of

International CriminalJustice Review

2020, Vol. 30(4) 458-481

ª2018 Georgia State University

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