Crossing the border from boyhood to manhood: male youth experiences of crossing, loss, and structural violence as unaccompanied minors

Abstract

Despite the immense literature that exists on the dilemmas and unjust practices surrounding migration, little has been written about the youth who make migratory journeys on their own or who are separated from their adult companions along the way. Termed 'Unaccompanied Alien Children' by Homeland Security, the experiences of these youth provide insight into how immigration policies are enacted and how they reflect national views on the poor and marginalised. The research discussed here covers six years of interviews and participant observation with male youth residing in shelters on both sides of the US/Mexico border at the San Diego/Tijuana corridor. The research demonstrates how state policies and perceptions of gendered male youth by both nations reinvents them as dangerous while at the same time denies them a masculine subjectivity, thereby furthering their marginalisation and assuring their failure.

Adapting and Implementing a School-Based Resilience-Building Curriculum Among Low-Income Racial and Ethnic Minority Students

“…For example, unaccompanied minors from Central America are a growing subpopulation within our school district with high levels of trauma (Office of Refugee Resettlement, 2016). This trauma exposure can stem from family, community, or gang violence in the countries of origin, dangerous conditions such as physical and sexual assault, kidnapping during the journey to the U.S., separation from family members, and detainment or placement in shelters after entering the U.S. (Pérez, 2014; UN High Commissioner for Refugees, 2014). The Resilience Classroom Curriculum can be adapted for this specific population by utilizing Bernal’s dimensions of adaptation (Bernal et al, 1995).…”

Ohio under COVID

“…Once a SLIFE student, often traveling as an unaccompanied minor, reaches the Mexican-American border, they enter the United States in one of two ways: seeking asylum at an official border crossing, where they will be detained by US officials until sponsorship is determined, or coming in as an "undocumented immigrant," continuously avoiding detainment, questioning, and deportment by the US government (Galli 2020). Youth attempting to enter the United States illegally may be placed in shelters or detention centers and deported if apprehended (Perez 2014). For those seeking asylum, they often spend their time waiting in immigration shelters, separated from family members and friends they may have traveled with until they appear before a judge.…”

Unaccompanied Adolescent Minors’ Experiences of Exception and Abandonment in the Ventimiglia Border Space

“…Since 2015, the "migration crisis" rhetoric has contributed to a binary depiction of adolescent migrants as either innocent refugee victims (Malkki, 2010) or deceitful adult migrants (Lems et al, 2020). In border areas, childhood serves as a mechanism for control and social order (Pérez, 2014). Confronted with securitarian border policies, UAMs on the move are strongly dependent on migration and welfare officials (Menjívar & Perreira, 2019;Strasser & Tibet, 2020) and often silence their complex needs to maintain the façade of innocence and humanitarian deservingness (McLaughlin, 2018).…”