Stratified Incorporation Under Temporary Protection: Heterogeneity Among Venezuelans with TPS

• In Event: International Migration Section Refereed Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): 02. Venezuelan immigrants and the migration process

Abstract

Venezuelans escaping dire conditions in their country of origin over the last decade have emigrated around the world, including to the United States. However, the precarious Temporary Protected Status (TPS) offered to Venezuelans arriving in the U.S. has been terminated in the last year, leaving this population with greater legal uncertainty and heightened risk of deportation. Using a unique 2025 survey of over 30,000 Venezuelans who received TPS, we endeavor to present the most detailed portrait available of this legally precarious, racialized, immigrant population. We build upon recent work drawing attention to class-based heterogeneity within forced migrant populations and its consequences for differentiated incorporation and legal precarity in destination contexts. Our work links research on legal status-based stratification with research on premigration selectivity to show how heterogeneity among migrants in their country of origin shapes the effects of uncertain legal status on their incorporation in the destination country. We home in on aspects critical to immigrant incorporation and resilience to legal insecurity by using measures of legal knowledge and subjective precarity, and explore their variation in relation to premigration education. In our final paper, we will examine migration trajectories and geographic settlement patterns within the U.S. in relation to these questions about selectivity and incorporation.

Authors

• Cecilia Menjivar, University of California-Los Angeles

• Roxanne Louise Corbeil, University of California-Los Angeles

• Victor Agadjanian, University of California - Los Angeles