New Book: Lawyering an Uncertain Cause Immigration Advocacy and Chinese Youth in the U.S.

A Better “Best Interests”: Immigration Policy in a Comparative Context

“…The past five years have brought increasing visibility to unaccompanied children in the media and among policymakers. We see a corresponding growth in the literature on unaccompanied children (Bhabha ; Cardoso et al 2014; Heidbrink , ; Zayas ; Statz ; Menjívar and Perreira ). Importantly, several researchers have analyzed the institutions caring for children (Uehling ; Ensor and Gozdziak ; Terrio ) and the legal systems that seek their removal (Bhabha and Schmidt ; Zatz and Rodriguez ), while others have traced children's health, safety, and well‐being following release from federal custody or into federal foster care programs (Roth and Grace ; Heidbrink ; Crea et al ).…”

“…A growing body of research on unaccompanied children destabilizes assumptions of child passivity by tracing the ways in which young people navigate the law and institutional interventions (Kohli ; Adams ; Heidbrink , , ; Statz ). Seeking to contextualize young people's migration decision and journeys, this research examines the social agency of young people and their understandings of mobility, along with the ways in which young people create, sustain, and repair their social worlds amid the unequal distribution of power and resources (Hutchby and Moran‐Ellis ).…”

“…Young people may circulate between households or geographical territories in an effort to satisfy basic needs, ensure their physical and psychic integrity, or expand educational, professional, or marriage opportunities—and, importantly, this mobility is often undertaken with the explicit or tacit support of their extended kinship networks. Yet, as the literature reveals, considerations of best interests for unaccompanied children are often fortified by socially situated notions of what constitutes a “good” childhood, which often conflict with how young people and their families understand the space of youth and the meanings of migration (Mai ; Heidbrink and Statz ; Galli ; Statz ; Heidbrink ).…”

“…Indeed, and of particular relevance for this article, the determination of competence and best interests in ABC largely neglected that both children and adults are competent concerning some aspects of abortion decision‐making but may need support to make decisions on other aspects. Here, a youth's desire for assistance in decision‐making is construed as a sign of incompetence rather than as acknowledgment of the ways a young person's sociospatial and relational context figures into the decision she can or ultimately does make (see, e.g., Heidbrink ; Statz ).…”