Doctoral Dissertation Research: Immigration, Mixed-Status Families, Risk Management and Vulnerability

这个项目考察了堪萨斯州拉丁裔混血儿家庭面临的挑战。根据定义，混合身份家庭的家庭成员具有不同的法律身份，如无证件、半合法或公民。对于拉丁裔混血儿家庭，目前的执法做法和使其合法地位正规化的有限选择的溢出后果包括家庭分离、经济紧张、受教育程度低以及心理健康和认知发展问题。以往对混血家庭的研究将拉美裔视为一个泛种族群体，模糊了群体内部的差异，忽视了土著和非裔拉美裔群体长期以来的殖民、歧视和抵抗努力。为了填补这一空白，该项目探索了土著（Mixteco和Tlapaneco）和非土著拉丁裔混合家庭的经历，并调查了家庭动态、个人身份和社区参与的后果。涉及移民家庭的研究通常在美国西部、东部和西南部的城市进行，这些城市是移民人口的传统目的地。这个项目在堪萨斯州进行，允许对这种特殊情况下的结构安排对混合身份家庭的影响进行批判性审查。通过对移民政策的交叉分析和社会法学研究，本研究提出了以下问题：(1)基于种族、阶级、性别和法律地位的结构性不平等的交集如何影响堪萨斯州混血家庭的经历？(2)混血家庭成员如何管理风险，协商他们在法律上的弱势生活，并应对他们的状况？对土著（Mixteco和Tlapaneco）和非土著拉丁裔混血家庭成员进行了60次深度访谈的定性研究，并对堪萨斯州中东部的社交聚会、文化活动和支持移民的抗议活动进行了为期一年的参与者观察，构成了调查这些问题的主要数据来源。这个项目让一个高度边缘化的群体——混合身份的土著（Mixteco和Tlapaneco）和非土著拉丁裔家庭发出了声音，不仅展示了结构如何影响他们的生计，还展示了他们如何与权力和压迫制度进行谈判和抗争。研究结果将为移民政策的新方向提供依据和建议。通过分析公民身份与“非法”之间的联系，并仔细审视边缘化的模糊界限，这项研究最终可以导致这些违法行为得到承认和正义的倡议。

This project examines the challenges Latino mixed-status families face in Kansas. Mixed-status families have, by definition, family members of different legal statuses, such as undocumented, semi-legal, or citizen. For Latino mixed-status families, the spillover consequences of current enforcement practices and limited options for regularizing their legal status include family separation, economic strain, and low educational attainment as well as problems with mental health and cognitive development. Previous studies on mixed-status families homogenize Latinos as a pan-ethnic group, blurring intragroup differences and ignoring long histories of colonization, discrimination, and resistance efforts of Indigenous- and Afro-Latino groups. To fill this gap, this project explores Indigenous (Mixteco and Tlapaneco) and non-Indigenous Latino mixed-status families' experiences and investigates the consequences for family dynamics, individual identity, and community engagement. Research involving immigrant families is typically conducted in cities in the West, East, and Southwest parts of the U.S., traditional destinations for immigrant populations. This project takes place in Kansas, allowing for a critical examination of the effects of structural arrangements in this specific context on mixed-status families. Using an intersectional analysis and sociolegal scholarship on immigration policy, this research asks: (1) How does the intersection of structural inequalities based on race, class, gender, and legal status shape mixed-status families' experiences in Kansas? and (2) How do mixed-status family members manage risk, negotiate their legally vulnerable lives, and respond to their conditions? A qualitative study of sixty in-depth interviews with Indigenous (Mixteco and Tlapaneco) and non-Indigenous Latino mixed-status family members and a year-long participant observation in social gatherings, cultural events, and pro-immigration protests in east-central Kansas constitute the main sources of data to investigate these questions. This project gives a voice to a highly marginalized group--mixed-status Indigenous (Mixteco and Tlapaneco) and non-Indigenous Latino families, showing not only how structures affect their livelihoods, but also how they negotiate and contest systems of power and oppression. The findings will provide bases and recommendations for new directions on immigration policy. Through the analysis of the link between citizenship and "illegality," and a careful examination of the blurred boundaries of marginalization, this research can ultimately lead to initiatives in which these transgressions are recognized and made just.