Processes of belonging for citizen-children of undocumented Mexican immigrants
Open accessAbstract
In this article, we focus on the developmental contexts of middle childhood and early adolescence to explore the lives of citizen-children living with undocumented Mexican parents. We draw on the concept of belonging to highlight the distinct situation of citizen-children and the ways in which they come to understand their place in a world. To capture the experiences of citizen-children born to undocumented Mexican immigrant parents and their sense of belonging to place and community, we conducted in-depth interviews with 83 citizen-children in late childhood and early adolescence in three groups. One group of citizen-children lived in Mexico after their parents' deportation. Another group remained in the U.S. after parents were detained or deported. The third group did not have a parent in deportation proceedings. Qualitative analyses of children's recorded interviews revealed their experiences of discovery of parents' undocumented status; political, social and material exclusion; and rupture of family ties. Children were keenly aware that birthright citizenship afforded them numerous privileges unavailable to their parents, but that it did not extend to the very privilege, they valued most: an intact family. The loss of parents through detention or deportation forced some children to consider existential questions about who they were and where they belonged, sometimes pitting family members against one another. Our findings suggest that belonging is intimately tied to broader forces of legal persecution that go beyond individualized notions of illegality and have deep, possibly lasting psychological effects.
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Deportation events can be similarly traumatic to children as parental incarceration.
“Moreover, a growing body of research shows that Adverse Childhood Events, which include justice-system contact or parental incarceration before the age of 18, are associated with poor physical and mental health outcomes in adulthood (68) and other studies suggest that deportation events can be similarly traumatic to children (39, 43).”
From Deported Men's and Father's Perspective: The Impacts of Family Separation on Children and Families in the U.S. (2020) · cites this paper as [39]
The Results describe parental separation through detention or deportation as emotionally traumatic for citizen-children, and the Discussion reports anguish and suffering following that loss. The paper does not compare the trauma of deportation with parental incarceration, so the claimed similarity is not supported by this source. (LLM, conf=0.84)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredRecent studies have shown that both a parent's unauthorized status and a deportation event can negatively impact the quality of life of U.S. citizen-children.
“Recent studies have shown that both a parent's unauthorized status (36, 37) and deportation event can negatively impact the quality of life of U.S. citizen-children (38–42).”
From Deported Men's and Father's Perspective: The Impacts of Family Separation on Children and Families in the U.S. (2020) · cites this paper as [39]
Paternal deportation potentially disrupts children's academic trajectories.
“Other implications for families include the potential disruption of children's academic trajectories following paternal deportation (10, 39, 62, 64); this outcome is particularly concerning because of its negative impact on immediate and future human capital development and future economic outcomes.”
From Deported Men's and Father's Perspective: The Impacts of Family Separation on Children and Families in the U.S. (2020) · cites this paper as [39]
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Ojeda, V. D., Magana, C., Burgos, J. L., & Vargas-Ojeda, A. C. (2020) · Frontiers in Psychiatry · doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2020.00148 · Cited by 23 · see citing works
“Moreover, a growing body of research shows that Adverse Childhood Events, which include justice-system contact or parental incarceration before the age of 18, are associated with poor physical andmental health outcomes in adulthood (68) and other studies suggest that deportation events can be similarly traumatic to ch…”
Background
- Authors
- Zayas, L. H., & Gulbas, L. E.
- Affiliations
- The University of Texas at Austin (US)
- Corresponding author
- Zayas, Luis H.
- Venue
- Journal of Child and Family Studies
- Published
- 2017-05-06
- Volume
- 26
- Issue
- 9
- Pages
- 2463-2474
- ISSN
- 1062-1024 (ISSN-L)
- 1573-2843
- PMC
- PMC6141042
- OpenAlex
- W2611053903
- Cited by
- 48
- References
- 2
- Citations by year
- 2025: 1 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 24 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 2 · 2016: 1
- FWCI
- 4.90
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Journal of Child and Family Studies (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (R21HD068874)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Migration, Refugees, and Integration
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Migration, Health and Trauma
- Social Sciences › Demography › Diaspora, migration, transnational identity
- Keywords
- undocumented immigrants, Mexican immigrants, sense of belonging, birthright citizenship, deportation, immigration detention, family separation, middle childhood, early adolescence, social exclusion, family ties, children's experiences
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