Undocumented and Unaccompanied
This book focuses on the migration of undocumented minors arriving recently to the United States and the European Union, flows that are often labeled undocumented, illegal, or irregular and due to their sudden increase, they have been described in the media, policy circles, and scholarly work as a surge or a crisis. In this book, leading scholars examine the intricacies of the contexts that these minors encounter in the localities where they arrive, including the legal and ethical frameworks for protecting unaccompanied minors, governmental decisions about the best interests of the children, these minors expressions of their own best interests or agency as they navigate immigration and social service systems, conditions in detention facilities, and the health and social service needs in receiving communities.
Though definitions and techniques for counting unaccompanied migrant minors differ between the U.S. and the EU, this book underscores the immigrant minors common vulnerabilities and strategies they adopt to protect themselves and improve their circumstances. At the same time, contributors to the volume highlight common challenges that both European and U.S. governments face as they develop policy strategies and legal mechanisms to attempt to balance the best interests of these children with national interests of the countries in which they settle.
The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies.
Cecilia Menjvar holds the Dorothy L. Meier Chair in Social Equities and is Professor of Sociology at UCLA. Her research focuses on the effects of immigration law on immigrants lives, including family dynamics and separations, gender, social networks, religious participation, and belonging. She is the recipient of a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship (2014) and an Andrew Carnegie Fellowship (2017).
Krista M. Perreira (BA, Pomona College 1991; Ph.D. UC Berkeley, 1999) is Professor of Social Medicine at UNC-Chapel Hill School of Medicine and a fellow at the Carolina Population Center. Dr Perreira has over 20 years of research experience focused on understanding and improving the well-being of immigrant and Hispanic/Latino populations in the United States.
Research in Ethnic and Migration Studies
Series editor: Paul Statham, Director, Sussex Centre for Migration Research (SCMR), University of Sussex, UK
The Research in Ethnic and Migration Studies series publishes the results of high-quality, cutting-edge research that addresses key questions relating to ethnic relations, diversity and migration. The series is open to a range of disciplines and brings together research collaborations on specific defined topics on all aspects of migration and its consequences, including migration processes, migrants and their experiences, ethnic relations, discrimination, integration, racism, transnationalism, citizenship, identity and cultural diversity. Contributions are especially welcome when they are the result of comparative research, either across countries, cities or groups. All articles have previously been published in the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies (JEMS), which has a rigorous peer review system. Collective volumes in this series are either the product of Special Issues published in the journal or published articles that the Editor has selected from individual submissions.
- Diaspora Governance and Transnational Entrepreneurship
The Rise of an Emerging Global Social Pattern in Migration Studies
Edited by Ricard Zapata-Barrero and Shahamak Rezaei
- Children of the Crisis
Ethnographic Perspectives on Unaccompanied Refugee Youth in and En Route to Europe
Edited by Annika Lems, Kathrin Oester and Sabine Strasser
- Undocumented and Unaccompanied
Children of Migration in the European Union and the United States
Edited by Cecilia Menjvar and Krista M. Perreira
- Thai-Western Mobilities and Migration
Intimacy within Cross-Border Connections
Edited by Paul Statham, Sarah Scuzzarello, Sirijit Sunanta and Alexander Trupp
- Migration and Marriage in Asian Contexts
Edited by Zheng Mu and Wei-Jun Jean Yeung
For more information about this series, please visit: www.routledge.com/Research-in-Ethnic-and-Migration-Studies/book-series/REMS
First published 2022
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British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN13: 978-1-032-07425-2 (hbk)
ISBN13: 978-1-032-07427-6 (pbk)
ISBN13: 978-1-003-20686-6 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003206866
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Publishers Note
The publisher accepts responsibility for any inconsistencies that may have arisen during the conversion of this book from journal articles to book chapters, namely the inclusion of journal terminology.
Disclaimer
Every effort has been made to contact copyright holders for their permission to reprint material in this book. The publishers would be grateful to hear from any copyright holder who is not here acknowledged and will undertake to rectify any errors or omissions in future editions of this book.
Citation Information
The chapters in this book were originally published in the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, volume 45, issue 2 (2019). When citing this material, please use the original page numbering for each article, as follows:
Chapter 1: Introduction
- Undocumented and unaccompanied: children of migration in the European Union and the United States
- Cecilia Menjvar and Krista M. Perreira
- Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, volume 45, issue 2 (2019) pp. 197217
Chapter 2
- Unaccompanied minors from the Northern Central American countries in the migrant stream: social differentials and institutional contexts
- Nestor Rodriguez, Ximena Urrutia-Rojas and Luis Raul Gonzalez
- Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, volume 45, issue 2 (2019) pp. 218234
Chapter 3
- Re-conceptualising agency in migrant children from Central America and Mexico
- Amy Thompson, Rebecca Maria Torres, Kate Swanson, Sarah A. Blue and scar Misael Hernndez Hernndez
- Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, volume 45, issue 2 (2019) pp. 235252
Chapter 4
- Deportation as a sacrament of the state: the religious instruction of contracted chaplains in U.S. detention facilities
- Gregory Lee Cullar
- Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, volume 45, issue 2 (2019) pp. 253272
Chapter 5
- Integration of unaccompanied migrant youth in the United States: a call for research