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

这个项目调查了堪萨斯州拉丁裔混血家庭面临的挑战。根据定义，混合身份家庭有不同法律地位的家庭成员，如无证、半合法或公民。对于拉丁裔混合身份家庭来说，目前的执法做法和使其合法地位合法化的选择有限的溢出后果包括家庭分离、经济压力和低教育程度，以及心理健康和认知发展问题。以前关于混合身份家庭的研究将拉美裔人作为一个泛种族群体进行同质化，模糊了群体内的差异，忽视了土著和非洲裔拉美裔群体长期的殖民、歧视和抵抗努力。为了填补这一空白，该项目探索了土著(米克斯泰科和特拉帕内科)和非土著拉丁裔混合身份家庭的经历，并调查了家庭动态、个人认同和社区参与的后果。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。该项目在堪萨斯州进行，允许对这一特定背景下的结构安排对混合身份家庭的影响进行严格的审查。通过对移民政策的横截面分析和社会法学研究，本研究提出以下问题：(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合身份家庭的经历？以及(2)混合身份的家庭成员如何管理风险，协商他们在法律上脆弱的生活，并对他们的状况做出反应？对60名土著(米斯特科和特拉帕内科)和非土著拉丁裔混合身份家庭成员的深入访谈进行的定性研究，以及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的长达一年的参与者观察，构成了调查这些问题的主要数据来源。该项目让高度边缘化的群体--混合身份的土著(米克斯泰科和特拉帕内科)和非土著拉丁裔家庭发出声音，不仅展示了结构如何影响他们的生计，而且展示了他们如何谈判和争夺权力和压迫制度。调查结果将为移民政策的新方向提供依据和建议。通过分析公民身份和“非法”之间的联系，以及对边缘化模糊边界的仔细检查，这项研究最终可以导致承认这些违法行为并伸张正义的举措。

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.