“This state is racist…”: Policy Problematization and Undocumented Youth Experiences in the New Latino South

• In Event: Presidential Highlighted Session: Seeking Rights of Citizenship and Equality of Educational Opportunity: Issues Facing Immigrant Students in the U.S. South

Proposal

Background/Purpose

The purpose of this study is to investigate the ways in which state/local policies constrain the lived experiences of recently arrived undocumented youth from Central America (Filandra, et, al., 2011). The presentation will share findings from a policy discourse analysis of state-level South Carolina policies related to immigrants’ educational rights as well as legislation related to employment, housing, driver’s licenses and other aspects of daily life that involve proving one’s “eligibility” as a citizen. The paper will also share empirical data such as semi-structured interviews with undocumented youth from the larger study to provide examples of how youth disrupt the negative discourse that circulates at the policy level, and to understand the lived effects of the enacted policies on their daily lives.

Conceptual Framework/Methodology

The paper draws on what Webb (2013) calls policy problematization. I argue that policy forms out of a problematization of marginalized groups, and policy sets the conditions of possible action for those who are targeted. This means, policy’s meaning is not just found in what the language says but its effects on the lived experiences of individuals. Policy problematization perspective uncovers “hidden truths” and false perceptions of undocumented youth and each informs and shapes policy discourse in South Carolina—producing irrational perceptions of “illegals” in the community.

The research engages with a Foucauldian-inspired critical discourse analysis (CDA) method (Vavrus & Seghers, 2010). CDA emphasizes how knowledge becomes authorized through policy production, circulation and implementation. This is important because I examine how knowledge about undocumented immigrants became legitimized during policy production and circulation. The processes gave rise to the identification of a problem of “illegal immigrants” in the state and offered set of proposed legislative “solutions.” The legislation constitutes the “legitimate knowledge” about undocumented immigrants’ in this local context. I examined state-level proposed and enacted legislation (45 bills) from 2005-2016 to learn about the production of knowledge about undocumented immigrants.

Implications and Significance

Given the racialized policy context of South Carolina, youth are forced navigate contested terrain and often hide in the shadows of society. These young people live on the edges of society and are forced to “break the law every day,” as one youth revealed how he breaks the law by driving without a license to his migrant farming job. The analysis demonstrates that policy production and circulation are critical stages in shaping the public perception of particular groups.

The significance of this study is that it contributes to scholarship about recently arrived undocumented young people facing dangerous policies in local, southern contexts. This is significant given the influx of Central American immigrants as they move toward labor opportunities on migrant farms in areas of the south. The research also contributes to using newer modes of policy analysis in order to expose oppressive, institutionalized language, and resulting social practices aimed against marginalized groups such as the undocumented youth we work with and research in our context.

Author

• Sophia Rodriguez, College of Charleston