2009 Small Grants Competition: Immigration and Poverty
Funded research
Roberto G. Gonzales, Acting Assistant Professor
School of Social Work, University of WashingtonYoung Lives on Hold: Undocumented 1.5 Generation Young Adults Learning to be "Illegal"
Description
This project aims to better understand the experiences of undocumented young adults and the ways in which immigration laws, family circumstances, and community institutions shape the important transitions from childhood to adolescence and adolescence to adulthood. While their childhoods are not impacted by their own legal status, their parents’ immigrant status and poverty circumstances place them in cramped housing arrangements, impoverished communities, and overcrowded schools with high levels of segregation and high student-to-teacher ratios. As they leave the legal protections of childhood, however, and enter into adult roles that require legal status as the basis for participation, they must confront their own legal limitations while facing increasing pressures to earn money to take care of themselves and their family. Undoubtedly, what happens in childhood has tremendous implications on adult trajectories, but, is legal status, ultimately, a master status?
