Introduction

Abstract The Introduction situates undocumented activism as a growing global phenomenon in the face of restrictive migration regimes in the United States and Europe. Despite policies of deterrence, increased deportations, and criminalizing discourses, undocumented immigrants have organized themselves to claim their rights, make their grievances heard, and strive to change their predicament. The chapter argues that understanding such a global phenomenon can only be captured through transatlantic comparative research that links local, national, and global scales. The cities of Chicago and Brussels are introduced as main research sites, each with distinct migration histories, policy landscapes, and infrastructures that sustain the emergence of undocumented activism in various ways. It foregrounds the role of self-organizations led by and for undocumented migrants, arguing that IYJL and SPBelgique are essential spaces for cultivating precarious agency. The chapter goes on to critique dominant frameworks that either stress undocumented migrants’ victimhood or focus one-sidedly on structuralist explanations of agency. Instead, it introduces a hermeneutical perspective on political subject formation that centers the lived experiences and self-understandings of undocumented people.