Shifting Boundaries: Immigrant Youth Negotiating National, State, and Small-Town Politics

Alexis M. Silver examines the experiences of unauthorized immigrant youth and U.S.-born children of immigrant parents, and their search for membership in a multi-layered political environment that inconsistently offers them spaces of inclusion while barring them from full membership and participation. Drawing on four years of ethnographic research and seven years of in-depth interviews in North Carolina, this longitudinal study explores how national, state, local, and institutional policies interact to create a chaotic and confusing environment for immigrant and second-generation youth.