Precarious Protections: Unaccompanied Minors Seeking Asylum in the United StatesMore children than ever are crossing international borders alone to seek asylum worldwide. In the past decade, over a half million children have fled from Central America to the United States, seeking safety and a chance to continue lives halted by violence. Yet upon their arrival, they fail to find the protection that our laws promise, based on the broadly shared belief that children should be safeguarded. A meticulously researched ethnography, Precarious Protections chronicles the experiences and perspectives of Central American unaccompanied minors and their immigration attorneys as they pursue applications for refugee status in the US asylum process. Chiara Galli debunks assumptions about asylum, including the idea that people are being denied protection because they file bogus claims. In practice, the United States interprets asylum law far more narrowly than what is necessary to recognize real-world experiences of escape from life-threatening violence. This is especially true for children from Central America. Galli reveals the formidable challenges of lawyering with children and exposes the human toll of the US immigration bureaucracy. |
Contents
| 1 | |
| 7 | |
Central American Youths Escape | 36 |
The Legal | 68 |
Coming of Age under the Gaze of the State | 172 |
Humane Immigration Reform | 208 |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
adulthood adults Alicia American unaccompanied minors Angeles apply for asylum asked asylum and SIJS asylum application asylum case law asylum law asylum office asylum process asylum seekers asylum system attorney border bureaucratic caretakers Central American unaccompanied challenges chapter child abuse clients companied minors context coyote danger Danny deportation domestic violence Edgar El Salvador eligibility escape from violence Estefania facto refugee family members fear foster care gang members gender grant Guatemala home country Honduras humanitarian capital immigration court immigration judges immigration law interactions interviews Ladinos lawyers legal aid organizations legal brokers legal clinics legal representation legal socialization legal status Los Angeles managers Menjívar migration decisions mother Obama paralegal parents persecution protections for unaccompanied relief reunification risk Salvador Salvadoran shelter siblings SIJS applicants symbolic violence teenagers tion Trump administration TVPRA type of suffering unac United USCIS victims vulnerable young youth migration