Mixed-Status Families and Citizenship in the Contemporary Migration Experience

University Of South Florida, Tampa FL

Investigators

Abstract

There are 2.3 million mixed-status families in the US, in which the uncertain legal status of some members influences opportunities and resources for all, including permanent residents and US citizens. A focus on individuals in US law and policy largely overlooks cumulative ripple effects on families, although individuals are always embedded within these complex social units. This study examines how mixed-status families experience specific policies related to health care and education, and seeks to understand how they collectively navigate opportunities and obstacles. It is necessary to understand the experiences of these families -- including and especially the impacts on some 4.5 million US citizen children -- in order to ensure equitable application of policy and to reduce disparities. Using mixed-status families as a primary unit of analysis, this project advances scholarship on how juridical categories shape socialization to identities within the domestic sphere as well as in relation to public institutions such as health care and education. This ethnographic study examines how families actively negotiate institutions by employing a longitudinal, three-year design. Data from multiple members of 40 mixed-status families will be examined across two points in time. This will be contextualized through participant observation and interviews with 50 service providers and community experts. This study seeks to transform theories of migration and law by shifting the focus from individuals to families, better revealing social impacts and how difference are shaped at the family level. Bridging experiences at the micro-familial with those at the policy level will result in advances for understanding the contemporary migration experience and theoretical concerns in the social science of law.