Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Undocumented, unafraid and unapologetic: Re-articulatory practices and migrant youth “illegality”

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Latino Studies Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The lives of undocumented youth are fundamentally characterized by the legal and social contradiction that arises from growing up in the United States yet facing barriers to full participation in US society. As such, the production of migrant youth “illegality” is marked by both distinct forms of regulation and exclusion as well as a sustained connection to institutions central to US society. In this article, I bring 18 months of ethnographic fieldwork with undocumented Latino youth activists in California into conversation with Stuart Hall’s notion of (re-)articulation in order to identify three articulatory practices among undocumented youth – brokering illegality, staking a claim to “citizen” participation and breaching the code of silence. I argue that the tension between their juridical identities as undocumented migrants and their subjective identities as US-raised children has served as a catalyst to political action among undocumented youth activists in California.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. All names are pseudonyms.

  2. Although the Obama administration’s passage of DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) has begun to shift this terrain of vulnerability by creating a process by which eligible undocumented young people can apply for a temporary work permit and protected status from deportation, immigration law still does not provide any permanent remedy for their tenuous status.

  3. See Chacón (2008) for a discussion of the points of controversy and an analysis of what is at stake in this debate.

References

  • Abrego, L. 2006. “I can’t Go to College Because I don’t Have Papers”: Incorporation Patterns of Undocumented Latino Youth. Latino Studies 4 (3): 212–231.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Abrego, L. 2008. Legitimacy, Social Identity, and the Mobilization of Law: The Effects of Assembly Bill 540 on Undocumented Students in California. Law and Social Inquiry 33 (3): 709–734.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bacon, D. 2008. Illegal People: How Globalization Creates Migration and Criminalizes Immigrants. Boston, MA: Beacon Press Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beverly, J. 2004. Testimonio: On the Politics of Truth. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brumback, K. 2011. Illegal Immigrant Youth “Come Out” in Reform Push. Associated Press, June 23.

  • Chen, K. and D. Morley, eds. 1996. Stuart Hall: Critical Dialogues in Cultural Studies. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chacón, J. 2008. Civil Rights, Immigrant Rights, Human Rights: Lessons from the Life and Works of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. New York University Review of Law and Social Change 32 (36): 465–484.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cortez Román, N. and E. Hamann . 2014. College Dreams à la Mexicana … Agency and Strategy among American-Mexican Transnational Students. Latino Studies 12 (2): 237–258.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Davis, M. and J.A. Chacón . 2006. No One is Illegal: Fighting Racism and State-Violence on the U.S. Mexico Border. Chicago, IL: Haymarket Book.

    Google Scholar 

  • De Genova, N. 2002. Migrant “Illegality” and Deportability in Everyday Life. Annual Review of Anthropology 31: 419–447.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • De Leon, S. 2005. Assimilation and Ambiguous Experience of the Resilient Male Mexican Immigrants that Successfully Navigate American Higher Education. PhD diss., University of Texas-Austin.

  • Diaz-Strong, D. and E. Meiners . 2007. Residents, Alien Policies, and Resistances: Experiences of Undocumented Latina/o Students in Chicago’s Colleges and Universities. InterActions: UCLA Journal of Education and Information Studies 3 (2): 1–20.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dozier, S.B. 2001. Undocumented and Documented International Students: A Comparative Study of their Academic Performance. Community College Review 29 (2): 43–53.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Flores, S. 2010. State Dream Acts: The Effect of In-State Resident Tuition Policies and Undocumented Latino Students. The Review of Higher Education 33 (2): 239–283.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Flores, S. and L. Oseguera . 2009. The Community College and Undocumented Immigrant Students across State Contexts: Localism and Public Policy. Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education 108 (1): 267–298.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Frum, J. 2007. Postsecondary Educational Access of Undocumented Students: Opportunities and Constraints. American Academic 3 (1): 81–108.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gonzales, R.G. 2008. Left Out but Not Shut Down: Political Activism and the Undocumented Latino Student Movement. Northwestern Journal of Law and Social Policy 3 (2): 1–22.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gordon, J. 2005. Suburban Sweatshops: The Fight for Immigrant Rights. Cambridge, US: Belknap Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Hall, S. 1996. Race, Articulation, and Societies Structured in Dominance. In Black British Cultural Studies, eds. H. Baker, M. Diawara, and R. Lindeborg, 305–345. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hing, B.O. and K.R. Johnson . 2006. The Immigrant Rights Marches of 2006 and the Prospects for a New Civil Rights Movement. UC Davis Legal Studies Research Paper Series, downloaded from The Social Science Research Network Electronic Paper Collection, http://ssrn.com/abstract=951268, accessed 9 December 2012.

  • Latina Feminist Working Group. 2001. Telling to Live: Latina Feminist Testimonios. Durham, UK: Duke University Press.

  • Lopez, J. 2010. Undocumented Students and the Policies of Wasted Potential. El Paso, TX: LFB Scholarly Publishing LLC.

    Google Scholar 

  • López, M.P. and G.R. López . 2009. Persistent Inequality: Contemporary Realties in the Education of Undocumented Latino/a Students. Boston, MA: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Morales, A., S. Herrera and K. Murry . 2011. Navigating the Waves of Social and Political Capriciousness: Inspiring Perspectives from DREAM-Eligible Immigrant Students. Journal of Hispanic Higher Education 10 (3): 266–283.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Muñoz, S.M. and M.M. Maldonado . 2011. Counterstories of College Persistence by Undocumented Mexicana Students: Navigating Race, Class, Gender, and Legal Status. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education 25 (3): 1–23.

    Google Scholar 

  • Oboler, S., ed. 2006. Redefining Citizenship as a Lived Experience. In Latinos and Citizenship, 3–30. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Olivas, M.A. 1986. Plyler v. Doe, Toll v. Moreno, and Postsecondary Admissions: Undocumented Adults and Enduring Disability. Journal of Law and Education 15 (1): 19–56.

    Google Scholar 

  • Olivas, M.A. 2004. IIRIRA, the Dream Act, and Undocumented College Student Residency. Immigration and Nationality Law Review 25: 323–352.

    Google Scholar 

  • Olivas, M.A. 2009. Political Economy of the Dream Act and the Legislative Process: A Case Study of Comprehensive Immigration Reform. The Wayne Law Review 55: 1757–1810.

    Google Scholar 

  • Passel, J. and D. Cohn . 2011. Unauthorized Immigration Population: National and State Trends, Pew Hispanic Center, 1 February, http://www.pewhispanic.org/2011/02/01/unauthorized-immigrant-population-brnational-and-state-trends-2010/, accessed 14 September 2011.

  • Pérez, W. and D.G. Solorzano . 2009. We ARE Americans: Undocumented Students Pursuing the American Dream. Sterling, VA: Stylus Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pérez Huber, L. 2010. Using Latina/o Critical Race Theory (LatCrit) and Racist Nativism to Explore Intersectionality in the Educational Experiences of Undocumented Chicana College Students. Educational Foundations 24 (1): 77–96.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pérez Huber, L. and M.M. Malagon . 2006. Silenced Struggles: The Experiences of Latina and Latino Undocumented College Students in California. Nevada Law Journal 7: 841–861.

    Google Scholar 

  • Preston, J. 2010. Illegal Immigrant Students Protest at McCain’s Office. New York Times 17 May.

  • Rincón, A. 2008. Undocumented Immigrants and Higher Education: Si Se Puede! El Paso, TX: LFB Scholarly Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Seif, H. 2004. “Wise Up!” Undocumented (Im)migrant Youth, Latino Legislators, and the Struggle for Higher Education Access. Latino Studies 2 (2): 210–230.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Seif, H. 2011. “Unapologetic and Unafraid”: Immigrant Youth Come Out From the Shadows. New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development 134: 59–75.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Seif, H., C. Ullman and G. Núñez-Mchiri . 2014. Introduction to Mexican (Im)migrant Students and Education: Constructions of and Resistance to “Illegality.” Latino Studies 12 (2): 172–193.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Solorzano, D and T. Yosso . 2002. Critical Race Methodology: Counter-Storytelling as an Analytical Framework for Education Research. Qualitative Inquiry 8 (1): 23.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • S.I.N. Collective. 2007. Students Informing Now (S.I.N.) Challenge the Racial State in California without Shame … SIN Verguenza! Educational Foundations 21 (Winter-Spring): 71–90.

  • Suárez-Orozco, C. and M. Suárez-Orozco . 2001. Children of Immigration. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Unzueta Carrasco, T. and H. Seif . 2014. Disrupting the Dream: Undocumented Youth Reframe Citizenship and Deportability Through Anti-Deportation Activism. Latino Studies 12 (2): 279–299.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Varsanyi, M. 2005. The Paradox of Contemporary Immigrant Political Mobilization: Organized Labor, Undocumented Migrants, and Electoral Participation in Los Angeles. Antipode: A Radical Journal of Geography 37 (4): 775–795.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weisskirch, R. and S.A. Alva . 2002. Language Brokering and the Acculturation of Latino Children. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences 24 (3): 369–378.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yoshikawa, H. 2011. Immigrants Raising Citizens: Undocumented Parents and their Young Children. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This article would not have been possible without the visionary undocumented youth activists who invited me into their lives and to be an ally in their struggle. I would also like to thank Professor Ananya Roy of UC Berkeley, Professor Sylvia Nam of UC Riverside and Professor Sarah Lopez of the University of Texas at Austin for their critique, support and encouragement. Lastly, I would like to thank the late Stuart Hall, in whose theory I ground my analysis, for giving many generations of young scholars and activists of color like myself a more full understanding of who we are, where we come from and what is at stake.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of San Francisco, CA

    Genevieve Negrón-Gonzales

Authors
  1. Genevieve Negrón-Gonzales
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Negrón-Gonzales, G. Undocumented, unafraid and unapologetic: Re-articulatory practices and migrant youth “illegality”. Lat Stud 12, 259–278 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1057/lst.2014.20

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/lst.2014.20

Keywords

Search

Navigation