“La Misma Muerte”: The Impact of Family Separation on Unaccompanied Immigrant Youth

• In Event: Roundtable Session 2
  In Roundtable Session: Identity Work and Immigrant Youth

Abstract

This manuscript focuses on the experiences of unaccompanied, immigrant youth who left their families in El Salvador and Mexico and migrated to the United States. Through digital stories, focus groups, and interviews, immigrant students ages 14-18 enrolled in a newcomer program shared how family separation impacted their lives and decisions. The youth in this study were late-arrival immigrants, which means that the majority would not be eligible for benefits under the proposed DREAM Act. Their experiences draw attention to the fact that even if DREAM Act legislation were to pass on the federal level, it does not address the needs of all youth raising critical, and difficult, questions for educators, administrators, and policy makers.

Author

• Emily A. Wexler Love, OMNI Institute