Undocumented and in College: Students and Institutions in a Climate of National Hostility
192
Undocumented and in College: Students and Institutions in a Climate of National Hostility
192Paperback(New Edition)
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Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780823276172 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Fordham University Press |
| Publication date: | 09/19/2017 |
| Edition description: | New Edition |
| Pages: | 192 |
| Product dimensions: | 5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.50(d) |
About the Author
Laura Nichols is Associate Professor of Sociology at Santa Clara University.
Read an Excerpt
Undocumented and in College
Students and Institutions in a Climate of National Hostility
By Terry-Ann Jones, Laura Nichols
Fordham University Press
Copyright © 2017 Fordham University PressAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-8232-7617-2
CHAPTER 1
Theoretical and Conceptual Considerations for the Study of Undocumented College Students
TERRY-ANN JONES
Introduction
Developing a model through which to understand the reasons for migration has long been central to the field of migration studies, and the scholarship that has emerged to better understand this common human activity has contributed to this effort. The movement of human beings across regions predates the establishment of political borders, yet scholars still struggle to understand the process through a comprehensive theoretical approach. Scholars of migration theory often lament that there is no single, comprehensive theory of international migration that reflects the myriad contemporary processes of migration. I would argue that there should not be a single, comprehensive theoretical approach to such diverse, dynamic processes in which both the players and their realities are so widely divergent, even if they hail from similar countries or regions. Instead, scholars have developed several varying and often complementary approaches that define, explain, and predict processes of international migration. This chapter reviews the major theoretical approaches to international migration and considers their use as a tool to explain the dynamics surrounding the migration processes, meanings of citizenship, race/ethnicity, racism, stigmatization, and other challenges that undocumented youth encounter in interacting with institutions, particularly in their pursuit of a tertiary-level education.
Classical Theories of International Migration
Although theories of international migration have evolved as scholars have debated the priorities and considerations that drive the migration process, Ravenstein's "laws of migration" is commonly cited as the starting point for the development of migration theory. Ravenstein developed a set of governing principles related to migration, among which he theorized that migration is primarily caused by economic factors.
Lee's concept of the push-pull theory of migration is similarly fundamental to the development of contemporary theories of migration that explain the decision-making process, as the decision to migrate involves consideration of the characteristics of the home country that individuals and families try to escape (push factors) and factors that are attractive in the receiving country (pull factors). About three-quarters of the undocumented population of the United States are Latinos, and the majority of undocumented students were born in Latin America, particularly Central America. Accordingly, the push factors that propel their families to the United States are likely to include poverty, political instability, and increasingly prevalent gang-motivated crime and violence, all of which are pervasive in the parts of Latin America that are the major sending countries of undocumented immigrants in the United States. That the five countries with the highest murder rates in the world are all in Latin America (Honduras, Venezuela, Belize, El Salvador, and Guatemala) is undoubtedly related to the urgency with which people emigrate from these countries, even without the documentation that they require for legal status. From the standpoint of the receiving country, the relative political and economic stability and the prospects for upward socioeconomic mobility serve as attractive pull factors, even when discerning migrants consider the risk of entering and living in the United States without legal immigration status. Further, the breakdown of immigration policy post 1986 in the United States combined with heightened security efforts post 9/11 has resulted in immigration policies and practices that are at best ambiguous and at worst conflictual, leaving individuals and families at the mercy of local sentiment and constantly changing pol itical power. It is on this basis of contemplating the risks and benefits associated with migration that the following theories of international migration are based.
Contemporary Theories of International Migration
Building on Lee's model of a decision-making process that weighs the potential benefits of migration against the potential costs, other theories of migration have emerged, many of which assume that an individual makes a rational decision based on her or his best interests, or perhaps the best interests of their children or other family members. Other models are based on macroeconomic factors and structural patterns that are beyond the control of individual migrants. The neoclassical economics approach is based on the assumption that transnational discrepancies in labor supply, demand, and wages serve as major motivating factors for migration. Migrants, according to this approach, leave countries with high unemployment, high labor supply, and low wages in favor of countries with lower unemployment, higher labor demand, and higher wages. The assumption that migration essentially serves to improve the economic conditions of migrants has, however, attracted much criticism, as it does not account for the myriad other factors that encourage people to leave their home countries, or the macroeconomic factors that individuals do not determine.
Both the world-systems approach and the dual labor market approach consider the macroeconomic and structural factors that influence migration decisions. According to the world-systems approach, migration is the result of inequities between states and as long as those inequities persist, the flow of people will continue from poor countries with limited global influence, or "periphery" countries, to the wealthy, dominant, "core" countries. In contrast to the world-systems analysis' emphasis on the power dynamics between countries, the dual or segmented labor market approach considers the conditions of the receiving country's domestic labor market. The duality or segmentation of the labor market refers to the tendency in migrant-receiving countries for some jobs to be relegated to a secondary status, marked by lower wages, lower skill level, and less security. For example in the United States, positions in agricultural labor, slaughterhouses and meat processing, landscaping, and domestic work are often stigmatized in this way. The consequence of the stigmatization of some segments of the labor market is that these "secondary" types of jobs become unattractive to the U.S.-born, which then limits the availability of labor, creating a demand for foreign labor. This demand stimulates the impetus to migrate.
The new household economics of migration is grounded in a similar assumption as the neoclassical economics approach, that migration is a response to global differentials in the supply and demand of labor and capital. However, in this model the cost-benefit analysis of the possible risks that the migration process might entail versus potential economic gains considers the family or household rather than just the individual. In this context, the expectation is that the decision, the costs, and the benefits are all shared by the family or household. For example, it is not uncommon for parents to migrate without their children, leaving them in the care of family members while they seek employment abroad. Leaving the children behind eases the difficult process of obtaining employment, caretaking, and housing, but the migrant then has the obligation to support not only herself and her children who remain in the home country, but also caregivers and possibly other family members. As such, the later migration of children who are or become undocumented is likely to affect not only the individual child or her parents, but also a broader network that could include the extended family, and members of the family or household may incur expenses through the process. The migration of undocumented children ought not be reduced to only economic motivations; rather, an understanding of the significance of kinship networks in the decision to migrate, as well as the difficulties or lack of opportunities in the home country that would make the risk of undocumented status a more attractive option than staying at home are fundamental to developing an understanding of the needs, fears, and challenges that new immigrant students in the United States face, especially their anxieties over protecting their family members. The new household economics model also recognizes that wage differentials are not necessary for migration to occur; there are other risks and benefits such as personal safety and educational opportunities for family members that are also considered.
To distinguish the new household economics of migration from the neoclassical approach, Porumbescu underscores the divergent ways in which each of the two approaches perceives return migration. Because the neoclassical economics approach posits that migration occurs in order to improve wages and economic standing, return migration suggests a failure to attain this upward mobility. On the other hand, the new household economics of migration prioritizes the family and/or household, so return migration suggests that the migrant has attained the desired goals of migration and the return is an indicator of success.
Although the family commitments that are embedded in the new household economics of migration suggest that parents carefully weigh the costs and benefits of migrating with children who will be without legal migration status, parents are often criticized for their role in the predicament of undocumented children and youth. Using the example of the perception of asylum-seeking children and their parents in Norway, Engebrigtsen contends that the generally negative way in which they are perceived by the Norwegian public reflects cultural biases. The parent-child relationship is assumed to be based on care and nurturing of the child by the parent according to Norwegian standards of parenting, and placing a child in the precarious position of being an undocumented immigrant is deemed to be contradictory to these standards. However, Engebrigtsen argues that based on the perspectives of some of the countries of origin of unaccompanied minors who arrive in Norway, the child can from an early age express care and nurturing for his or her family through the process of migration, which can lead to prosperity for the family. In other words, assumptions on the part of receiving societies that undocumented children have been harmed by their families fail to consider the nuanced ways in which care is expressed in different cultural contexts. While it is unlikely that any parent, regardless of culture, would desire that their children live the furtive life of an undocumented migrant, Engebrigtsen's perspective does question the receiving country's assumptions of the children's needs and of their particular source of distress. According to Engebrigtsen, "the general proposition that child migration leads to psychological trauma is also problematic." Ensor similarly argues that, "Migration, colonialism, and missionary activity served as vehicles through which white middle-class Western notions of childhood, and their associated Western academic discourses, were exported to the world in the nineteenth century." She contends that it is this imposition of cultural norms that resulted in the perception of children as victimized, traumatized, and lacking agency in their own lives. On the contrary, as we will see in future chapters, undocumented university students demonstrate an admirable level of determination and strength as they not only strive for their education, but also in many cases share responsibility for the family's and community's well-being. The research presented in the following chapters indicates, from the undocumented youth's perspectives, their expressed needs and their relationships with their family members, but the research findings also illustrate that the students' own fortitude and agency are no less responsible for their positive outcomes than is the support and access they are granted. Within the U.S. context, increased sensitivity to the needs of undocumented students, which are influenced by their culture and the centrality of their relationships with their family members, will likely lead to more beneficial responses.
The dominant models of international migration, while useful in some respects, tend to emphasize the receiving country's perspective, which is in this case U.S.-centric. For instance, the dual labor market approach to international migration is based on the segmentation of the labor market and labor demands in the receiving country. Similarly, the neoclassical economics approach is largely dependent on the relative economic stability of the host country. That these models emphasize the destination country suggests an incomplete consideration of the economic disparity, political strife, and unrestrained violence that propel Mexicans, Central Americans, and others into the uncertainty and instability of migrating without legal status.
Undocumented Children
Theoretical approaches to the study of international migration tend to focus on the decision-making process that leads migrants to make the journey. Although other theories emphasize the mechanisms that perpetuate migration, the models tend to be built on the assumption that there is a rational decision-maker, who is typically the migrant. Accompanying family members are considered only marginally. Children are not expected to be part of the decision-making process, nor do they play major economic roles; they are consequently omitted from the theoretical considerations of migration. This perhaps contributes to the dearth of literature on the experiences of undocumented students. As Pérez and Cortés underscore, the limited literature that does exist on undocumented students suggests that undocumented students contend with a range of psychological concerns stemming primarily from the fear that their status will be discovered, and also from the accompanying social isolation of having to keep their personal lives secret. Financial hardship represents yet another source of stress for undocumented students and their families.
Immigration and Human Capital
DebBurman argues that the proclivity for individuals to, "invest in human capital in order to maximize their net wealth" is the defining characteristic of human capital theory. The attainment of higher education signifies an investment in human capital that will likely result in upward socioeconomic mobility, and scholars typically agree that education is one of the most effective means by which to develop human capital. However, Chiswick has shown that migrants are not always able to immediately transfer their skills and education into earning potential. Rather, it is the skills and education that they acquire after having migrated that seem to have the greatest positive impact on their earning potential. Similarly, studies of the children of immigrants, which tend to focus on those born in the United States, suggest that the second generation has higher levels of education, occupational aspirations, and labor market outcomes than first-generation immigrants. Based on this assumption, undocumented children are more likely than their parents to see significant human capital returns on their investment in higher education, which they acquire after migration. However, even though child migrants have the potential to enjoy some of the advantages of the second generation, those who are undocumented do not share the unhindered access to educational and professional advancement. Consequently, restrictions on access to higher education for undocumented students symbolize limitations on their human capital and potential for upward socioeconomic mobility.
DebBurman notes that much of the existing body of literature that discusses educational attainment among immigrants does not distinguish between different generations of immigration — that is, whether they are first, second, or third generation immigrants. She underscores the importance of making the distinction between generations, as experiences and educational attainment are likely to differ between first- and second-generation immigrants. While her analysis of educational attainment by immigrant generation is a useful contribution to the literature, what is notably absent from the discussion is a consideration of the educational preparation, experiences, and attainment of the distinct population of children who, while first-generation, migrate at such a young age that they effectively grow up in the United States and are subject to its educational system. This population is often referred to as the 1.5 generation, a term that was coined by Ruben Rumbaut. Similarly, other studies that do make the distinction between immigrant generations in assessing educational attainment, such as Baum and Flores's study of the experiences of children of immigrant families in higher education, assume that children of immigrant families are born in the destination country rather than being immigrants themselves. Although they resemble second-generation immigrants in their levels of acculturation, the 1.5 generation, as described by Zhou, are "children who straddle the old and the new worlds but are fully part of neither." As such, students of the 1.5-generation often experience a "dual frame of reference" which scholars argue allows them to "persist in the face of difficulties in the new country." The students who are the focus of this study comprise this unique population, who are socialized and educated in the United States, yet their undocumented status adds an additional layer of complexity to their ability to adapt, as they lack the rights and privileges that their peers enjoy.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Undocumented and in College by Terry-Ann Jones, Laura Nichols. Copyright © 2017 Fordham University Press. Excerpted by permission of Fordham University Press.
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Table of Contents
Preface and titleChapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8