Roberto G. Gonzales, Ph.D.University of WashingtonFebruary 14, 2011

“Undocumented 1.5 Generation Young Adults and the Transition to Work and Uncertainty

Gabriel’s Story

A VERY DIFFERENT NARRATIVE Not likely to be eligible for the DREAM Act Have few supporters No social movement

AND Have limited legal options Heavy financial responsibilities

Very likely to fade into the twilight of the greater undocumented population

What does it mean to be poor, out of school and without legal status?

LARGER PROJECT

How does undocumented status shape the educational and developmental trajectories of undocumented youth as they transition to adulthood?

4 ½ year project – 2003-2007, 2009o1.5 generation undocumented young adults ages 20-34

Ethnographyo5 County Los Angeles Metropolitan AreaoInvolvement of over 250 young adults

In-depth Interviewso150 interviewedo78 life histories

Comparison Groups:o College-goerso *Early-exiters

CONTEMPORARY MIGRATION

At 2.1 million, 1.5 generation undocumented youth constitute 15-18 % of the undocumented population

Of these, 62 percent (1.3 million+) likely not to

meet requirements for the DREAM Act legalization

INVISIBLE VICTIMS OF IMMIGRATION RESTRICTION

Changes in immigration policy—tightening of the border, mandatory bars, displacement in sending countries

Increases in settlement patterns—more women and children

Growth in sizeable and vulnerable undocumented youth population

THE DILEMMA

Plyler V. Doe (1982) provides K-12 access

• Ruling did not address education beyond high school

Decreased opportunities along with increased responsibilities Exclusion from financial aid and formal labor market Needed to pitch in at home

Tens of thousands graduate high school every year encountering changed circumstances

MOVING FROM SCHOOL TO WORK

Turn of the 20th century immigrants found work in an expanding industrial economy

Well-paid blue collar jobs are now relics of the past

High returns on education - Increasingly more young people are finding themselves shut out of access to opportunities that could lift them out of poverty

Immigrants have been able to find jobs, but these are not the kinds of jobs they want for their children

CONTEMPORARY SCHOLARSHIP

How are today’s children of immigrants responding to limited opportunities?

Immigrant Incorporation Scholarship

2nd generation decline thesis – mismatch between aspiration and opportunity

Downward assimilation

Criticized for being overly pessimistic and not solely and immigrant problem

Oppositional culture argument overstated

CONTEMPORARY SCHOLARSHIP

How are today’s children of immigrants responding to limited opportunities?

Urban Poverty Scholarship

Lack of important family and community social capital

Youth susceptible to alternative and illicit activities

Concentrated poverty explanations often ignore region- and immigrant-specific dynamics

California has experienced qualitatively different shifts in the labor market, and Mexican migrants have not experienced joblessness as much as underemployment and stagnant wages

As undocumented children make transitions to adolescence and adulthood, they move from a protected to unprotected status, from inclusion to exclusion, from de facto legal to “illegal”

MAKING THE TRANSITION

K-12 education is free and legal

Most institutions in childhood do not require legal status

Late adolescence triggers legal limitations:WorkingDriving Financial AidBars

Succession of blocked opportunities

Fear, stigma, changed social patterns

Forced decisions—reveal or conceal

Protected StatusTransition to Adulthood

Awake to a Nightmare

TRANSITION TO ILLEGALITYSchool structures shape access to resources critical to undocumented students

Gonzales, Roberto G. 2010. “On the Wrong Side of the Tracks: The Consequences of School Stratification Systems for Unauthorized Mexican Students." Peabody Journal of Education, Volume 85 Issue 4, 469.

Even as schools track and stratify students, they also foster a culture of meritocracy, rendering immigration status irrelevant to how undocumented youth learn to navigate the primary institution of this stage of the life course

Gleeson, Shannon, and Roberto G. Forthcoming. “When Do Papers Matter? An Institutional Analysis of Undocumented Life in the United States.” International Migration.

TRANSITION TO ILLEGALITYLate adolescence begins a transition to illegality that involves the almost complete retooling of daily routines, survival skills, aspirations, and social patterns.

Undocumented youngsters enter the transition to illegality at different levels of education

Gonzales, Roberto G. (In Press) "Learning to be Illegal: Undocumented Youth and Shifting Legal Contexts in the Transition to Adulthood.” American Sociological Review.

Interviews with 73 early-exiters Questions focused on childhood, adolescent and

adult experiences

Differing modes of incorporation and contexts pre-transition contexts shape diverging paths

TYPES OF RESPONDENTS

Troubled pasts or delays in educational trajectories

Increased family responsibilities

Average students lacking key access to school resources

TROUBLED PASTS

Already on a downward trajectory Trouble with the law Early childbearing

Oppositional attitudes towards work

Lack of work experience

TROUBLED PASTS

At first I thought, "I'm not gonna bust my ass for someone who can be yelling at me for like $5.75, $5 bucks an hour.” Hell no. If I get a job, I wanna get paid $20 bucks an hour. I speak English. I do good. But actually I didn’t have any experience, and I decided to start selling drugs because I thought, this is easy. I got my own schedule, I can do whatever the hell I want to the whole day, I can scream at them, nobody is gonna scream at me. Nobody is gonna do nothing to me because I am the one in control. –Josue

Yeah it’s hard, especially now because they are looking for experience, not so much an educational background. They’re looking for a more experienced person who knows how to work in the field. –Dora

EARLY FAMILY RESPONSIBILITIES

Compelled to join the workforce to help out with monthly family expenses

Respondents’ families unable to provide any financial support for post-secondary activities

Early absorption into low-wage shadowed workforces

EARLY FAMILY RESPONSIBILITIES I started working at 14. My mom and sisters

have a cleaning business. We do mostly businesses and houses in rich areas. I started out part-time, but it wasn’t enough. My family needed me to work more, you know, longer hours. –Flor

I just stopped letting it define me. Work is only part of my life. I’ve got a girlfriend now. We have our own place. I’m part of a dance circle, and it’s really cool. Obviously, my situation holds me back from doing a lot of things, but I’ve got to live my life. I just get sick of being controlled by the lack of nine digits. –Gabriel

LACKING KEY SCHOOL RESOURCES

Not able to develop positive relationships with school personnel that might provide access to important resources

Exclusion from financial aid

Unable to afford post-secondary tuition

Living lives of limbo

LACKING KEY SCHOOL RESOURCESI didn’t know anything about my rights. Maybe if I knew the information I could have gotten a scholarship or something. That’s why I didn’t go. I don’t know if my counselors knew, but they never told me anything. –Karina

I don’t know what to do. I’ve been waiting for three years. -Luis Let’s say there’s a job I’ve been offered. If I get it, I have to buy fake papers. If I get caught with fake papers, that’s a federal offense so I’ll be screwed. I’m closer than I’ve ever been on getting my papers. I don’t want to mess it up with something like that so I can’t get it later on. –Sergio

CONCLUSIONS

While respondents grow up hoping for lives better than those of their parents, many found themselves with the same set of restrictions and limited options.

Circumstances of undocumented 1.5 generation youngsters are more complicated than downward scenarios predict, and yield a diverse set of outcomes

Some reject immigrant jobsOthers enter work through family connectionsAnd a significant portion ends up without the resources to continue school

Context of entry into illegality matters

THANK YOU!

RGGonzal@u.washington.edu