Doctoral Dissertation Research: Limited Relief: Rights and Culture in the Legal Contact Zones of Unaccompanied Child Migration

每年，美国的律师都被要求处理大约8 000名无人陪伴的外国儿童的法律的索赔以及照顾和监护需求。目前的研究项目调查在何种程度上建设的法律的身份，缩小，以适应有限的法律的框架有关的移民和监护，行为，以限制未来的生活可能性之间的这些法律的未成年人。它关注的是中国移民到美国的情况。它考虑了这些儿童与其律师所确定的法律的身份之间的关系，以及他们就这些移民听证会所要求的权利要求进行谈判的能力。 本研究通过对法律的诉讼过程的观察、对被美国移民局拘留在芝加哥和纽约的中国法律的未成年人的访谈以及对与这些做法相关的汇编文件的话语分析。这项研究的结果有助于为根据现行法律被拘留的未成年人制定更有准备的移民政策和法律的做法。

Every year, lawyers in the United States are called upon to address the legal claims, as well as care and custody needs, of approximately 8,000 Unaccompanied Alien Children (UACs). The current research project investigates the degree to which construction of legal identity, narrowed to fit within limited legal frames related to both immigration and guardianship, acts to constrain future life possibilities among these legal minors. It focuses on the case of Chinese migrants to the US. It considers the relationship of these individual children to their legal identity, as framed by their lawyers, as well as their ability to negotiate the rights-claiming required by these immigration hearings. The research utilizes observation of legal proceedings, interviews with Chinese legal minors of this category detained in Chicago and New York by US immigration, and discourse analysis of compiled documents related to these practices. The results of this research could contribute to the development of more prepared immigration policies and legal practices on behalf of minors detained under the current law.