Doctoral Dissertation Research: Theorizing the Sociolegal Incorporation of First Generation Immigrants and their Adult Children

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This project examines how children of immigrants help their parents navigate social and legal institutions in the US. A long line of research demonstrates that children of immigrants serve as language and cultural brokers for their parents. As such, youth can assist their parents by translating documents, finding employment, learning new norms, and securing housing. However, limited attention has been dedicated to the role immigration status plays in the brokering process between young adults and their parents. This project aims to address three inter-related questions: How do adult 1.5 and 2nd generation children (age 18+) of immigrants engage in brokering? How do differences in the brokering process shape the sociolegal integration of 1st generation immigrant parents and their 1.5 and 2nd generation children? How do sociolegal outcomes differ by immigration status and gender? This work will have important implications for scholars, educators, and policy makers interested in understanding the ways in which legal status complicates the integration of immigrant families. This is particularly timely given the large-scale number of undocumented and mixed status families in the US. Findings will also reveal the positive and negative consequences that arise when these families attempt to integrate into core societal institutions. To address the research questions, in-depth interviews will be conducted with Latino/a immigrant families who vary across protected and unprotected immigration statues (undocumented young adults with undocumented parents, citizen young adults with undocumented parents, and citizen young adults with parents with permanent immigration status). Life history interviews will explore how immigration statuses shape the brokering and the unique integration processes that unfold among parents and their adult children. To this end, exploring the impact of immigration status on this process will unveil how children of immigrants not only broker information but are also uniquely positioned to facilitate access to vital social, legal, and economic institutions.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.