Coalitions of Care: Strategies for Expanding Substantive Urban Citizenship in U.S Cities During the Covid-19 Pandemic

In this paper we investigate and analyze the elevation of localized practices of migrant belonging, social inclusion and refuge in U.S. cities during the COVID-19 pandemic using the lens of citizenship rights and evolution as proposed by T.H. Marshall. While Marshall’s focus was national, we argue that this framework can be adjusted to analyze practices of substantive urban citizenship. Our study draws on interviews conducted during 2021 with local government officials as well as leaders of local immigrant-serving NGOs in 16 U.S. cities.  We analyze the successes and failures of local governments as well as civil society organizations in treating migrants within their jurisdictions as ‘citizens’ who belong regardless of their legal status. We pay particular attention to the inter- and multiscalar practices of local, state, and national politics and policies in the care of non-citizen migrants. The study concludes that Marshall’s model has merit but the order he proposed is reversed, so that social citizenship is prioritized. The study also emphasizes the importance of strengthening institutional coalitions, especially with migrant organizations in cities. These diverse and expanded partnerships underscore the expansion of citizenship-like practices in many jurisdictions for migrants during the pandemic.