The Political Incorporation of Undocumented Youth

• In Event: 462 - Section on Children and Youth Paper Session. Immigrant Children and Children of Immigration: New Perspectives on Children's Experiences in a Changing Policy Environment

Abstract

This article develops and empirically tests a model of political participation for undocumented youth in the United States, focusing on nonvoting forms of political engagement. Using one of the first systematic, nationwide surveys of undocumented millennials, we show that a) undocumented youth express much higher levels of political agency and participation than the literature on the political incorporation of immigrants leads us to expect, and b) membership in organizations that work on immigration-related issues is a main determinant of this sense of agency. The literature on immigrant political incorporation is vast, but precedent studies too often focus on formal acts of political participation such as naturalization and voting. With an analytical focus on undocumented young people, this article contributes significantly to theoretical and empirical knowledge about how and why unauthorized immigrants become politically engaged despite the many obstacles that exist to their formal participation in politics.

Authors

• Angela S. Garcia, University of California-San Diego

• Tom K. Wong, University of California-San Diego

• Carolina Valdivia Ordorica, California State University- San Marcos