Dreams and Nightmares: Immigration Policy, Youth, and Families
Marjorie S. Zatz and Nancy Rodriguez
Abstract
Dreams and Nightmares takes a critical look at the challenges and dilemmas of immigration policy and practice in the absence of comprehensive immigration reform. The experiences of children and youth provide a prism through which the interwoven dynamics and consequences of immigration policy become apparent. Using a unique sociolegal perspective and based on extensive interviews with immigration attorneys, immigrants’ and children’s advocates, and government officials, this book examines how prosecutorial discretion, deferred action, and other forms of executive action play into immigration po ... More
Dreams and Nightmares takes a critical look at the challenges and dilemmas of immigration policy and practice in the absence of comprehensive immigration reform. The experiences of children and youth provide a prism through which the interwoven dynamics and consequences of immigration policy become apparent. Using a unique sociolegal perspective and based on extensive interviews with immigration attorneys, immigrants’ and children’s advocates, and government officials, this book examines how prosecutorial discretion, deferred action, and other forms of executive action play into immigration policy issues such as parental detention and deportation, unaccompanied minors, Dreamers, and mixed-status families. The book explores a set of structural mechanisms that have potential for mitigating or exacerbating harm to youth and families, and it considers whether these mechanisms meet the best interests of children, how they mightserve both to prioritize immigration enforcement and ease the plight of families, and why they remain controversial and vulnerable to political challenges.
Keywords:
immigration policy,
prosecutorial discretion,
deferred action,
parental detention,
deportation,
children and families,
best interests of children,
immigration enforcement,
structural mechanisms
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2015 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780520283053 |
| Published to California Scholarship Online: January 2016 |
DOI:10.1525/california/9780520283053.001.0001 |
Authors
Affiliations are at time of print publication.
Marjorie S. Zatz, author
University of California
Nancy Rodriguez, author
Arizona State University
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