Undocumented Vicariousness: An Intersectional Approach to Illegality and Depressive Symptoms among Mexican-origin Women

• In Event: 510 - Section on Race, Gender and Class Paper Session. Intersectional Approaches to Understanding Migration, Legal Status and Transnationalism

Abstract

Drawing on 90 interviews with undocumented, documented, and Mexican American women from Houston, TX, I adopt an intersectional approach to examine how illegality and a negative context of reception shapes their susceptibility to depressive symptoms. Findings reveal a ubiquitous deportation threat, largely due to an anti-immigrant climate of the United States, conditions Mexican-origin women’s depressive symptoms in direct and indirect ways. Undocumented Mexican immigrant women experience a deportation threat directly taking a toll on their mental health, indicative of their more vulnerable and precarious status. However, findings show that undocumented status has broader implications for the Mexican-origin community, through what I call undocumented vicariousness. I define undocumented vicariousness as the collateral consequences undocumented status has on the lives of documented Mexican immigrant and Mexican American women. These women continue to bear the brunt associated with “undocumented status” particularly in a racialized anti-immigrant environment. The hyper-vigilance and threats that these women face, I argue, wears these bodies down contributing to depressive symptoms. These findings highlight the salience of “undocumented status” as another marker of inequality and stratification. They also add to the growing interest on “illegality” and its impacts on immigrant mental health disparities by using an intersectionality approach.

Author

• San Juanita Edilia Garcia, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill