Cacho

In Cacho's book, Social Death, she writes, "To be represented as entitled to civil rights and deserving of legal recognition, working poor African Americans and undocumented Latina/os must demonstrate that they are deserving and/or in need of U.S. citizenship and its rights and privileges" (129).  Only if those people, the "working poor African Americans and undocumented Latina/os" fall into the binaries. It seems that there is a check list that must be marked to allow a person to become a citizen. The checklist is defined by those who want to keep the American Dream alive.

Cacho goes to write, "Sexual practices and gendered identities that fall outside accepted and expected norms are interpreted not only as threats to "the family"but also as evidence of what Alexander calls "irresponsible citizenship"(129). To be marked an irresponsible citizen, a person is not carrying on the traditional model of what is a family. A family must be able to reproduce and if they are not able to reproduce then why should they be allowed in the United States?  Basically, no couples that are physically not able to reproduce would automatically be non citizens.

It seems that the family model is how we keep people out of America. We deem people trying to establish citizenship that are here while their family is in their original country as negligent. Unless a person has their whole family, they do not deserve to be in the United States. Cacho writes, "These condescending statements impugn migrants' moral fiber, but at the same time they fully and publicly support the core argument that undocumented immigrants advocates make against deportation: that family unity is more important than the law" (131). Cacho explains further, " While immigrants' advocates argue that immigrants should prioritize their family's unity over fighting against immigration law" (131).  People are not even allowed to fight back because of the manipulation and control of having to be a family. If a person is deemed unfit because they are not supporting their family, then that person should not be allowed to be a citizen.