Cape Verdean American Youth Schooling Experiences and Parental Deportation

• In Event: Social Justice in Youth Spaces

Abstract

This study examined the impact of parental deportation on Cape Verdean youths’ schooling experience.
Youth felt isolated and disconnected in school and from extended family following their parents’ involvement with Immigration authorities. They questioned, denied American identity. Youth participants expressed fears and uncertainty about their future following parental deportation. Participants also described negative schooling experiences. Community leaders were also interviewed and perceived the climate of the United States as inauspicious to immigrants. They spoke of the stigma and the labeling of deportees and their families.
Findings highlight the importance of addressing ideologies in professional development and teacher preparation programs. The development of structures responsive to the issues of immigration for school districts that serve large immigrant populations is also discussed.

Authors

• Leila Rosa, University of Massachusetts - Dartmouth

• Roseanne Vallice Levy, Mercy College