The Effects of Gendered Immigration Enforcement on Middle Childhood and Schooling

Abstract

Drawing from an ethnographic study on Mexican immigrant fathers and their second-grade children, this article examines the masked realities behind current immigration policies that equate “illegal” with “Mexican immigrant” and how the enforcement of these policies, which overwhelmingly target Mexican immigrant men, affect immigrant children and their elementary schooling. I empirically illustrate how this oversimplified criminalization of Mexican immigrant men led to father-child separations, incredible stress for children, and the positioning of children as mediators in high-stakes encounters between the police and their parents. I highlight the need to strip back these masks to address and build upon students’ real-world experiences, including their immigration practices and family-based hybrid language practices, for this younger generation of DREAMers and U.S. citizens.