The intersection of legal status and stratification---the paradox of immigration law and labor protections in the United States

This dissertation examines the contradictory position of the undocumented immigrant worker in the United States. While immigration restrictions render their presence illegal and bars employers from hiring them, they also have access to a myriad of workplace protections, despite recent challenges to the contrary. To this end, this study poses three main research questions. First, I assess the major structural and institutional factors driving or hindering claims-making. Second, I investigate what effect variation in labor policy context has on models of enforcement for addressing the rights of undocumented workers, and the impact this has on collective action and coalition building. Lastly, I examine the impact of undocumented status on the legal consciousness of immigrant workers, how this shapes their relationship to the rights available to them, and ultimately the effect this has on their claims-snaking behavior.;This research follows a comparative and mixed-methods approach, including (1) a legal analysis of cases following the 2002 Supreme Court decision Hoffman Plastics v. National Labor Relations Board, (2) a statistical analysis that assesses the factors driving state variation in levels of claims-making, and (3) over 100 interviews in San Jose, CA and Houston, TX with government officials and enforcement agents, union and community leaders, and both documented and undocumented Latino restaurant workers.;My findings highlight the importance of civil society for mediating the barriers that undocumented workers face in accessing their labor rights, and the positive role that non-traditional actors such as local governments and foreign consulates can play for helping undocumented workers realize these rights. I, however, also discuss the similar barriers that undocumented workers confront across labor policy contexts, even at mainstream establishments. I argue that the United States immigration regime, despite improvements in workplace protections, continues to fundamentally shape the legal consciousness of undocumented workers, and their relationship to these rights.