Purpose: Social welfare scholars emphasize the negative effect that “tiers of eligibility” within families have on the well-being of citizen children whose undocumented parents fear the repercussions of accessing the welfare system. The current policy context is defined as exclusionary without full knowledge of how policies are “lived” by those defined as excluded. A few ethnographic studies suggest that despite vulnerable legal status, undocumented Mexican mothers may interact with public welfare institutions more often than suspected. To extend this knowledge base, this study analyzed access to information and benefits among undocumented Mexican mothers seeking resources for their citizen children in a new, exurban immigrant community. The role of “weak” versus “strong” ties, based on Granovetter's conceptualization, guided the study focus.

Methods: Data were obtained via in-depth interviews, participant observation, and document analysis. Twenty undocumented Mexican mothers were recruited from a local service provider, observed and interviewed over an 18-month period. Twenty key informants—service providers and clergy in the community—were also interviewed and, where permitted, observed. Consent was obtained, interviews audio-taped and transcribed, and observations recorded in detailed field notes. Common themes and discrepancies were drawn from data and analyzed. A qualitative data analysis program (NVivo) was used to code and categorize data. Accuracy was enhanced by reviewing findings with mothers and key informants (“member-checking”) and triangulation of the perspectives of multiple respondents on benefit availability, access, and utilization.

Results: Findings support literature that shows citizen children of undocumented parents do not always receive resources to which they are entitled. However, rather than the access problem found among low-income and racial/ethnic minorities in urban areas, this study suggests that resource information and utilization are more strongly influenced by parental fears. Such fears appear to be grounded in undocumented status. The majority of mothers interviewed would not apply for specific federal resources such as food stamps based on rumors they heard about what happens to children who receive “too much government aid.” Informational networks that connected mothers to local service providers, evidencing simultaneous weak and strong ties, also conveyed misinformation. Willingness to receive more public benefits increased in the face of targeted advocacy efforts, greater economic hardship, more and older children, and disillusionment with life in the US, but did not always diminish the influence of rumor on decision-making. Findings also show certain resources, such as subsidized child care, were unavailable to citizen children due to their parents' undocumented status.

Implications for Policy and Practice: Social welfare policy that denies eligibility to the citizen children of undocumented parents further marginalizes this fast-growing population of children. Where policies are clear and do not penalize children for their parents' immigrant status, the goal of social work practice in new and established immigrant communities is to focus on informational networks and the dispelling of rumor. Tiers of eligibility within families—whether real or imagined—contribute to the social and economic vulnerability of this population.

* This research was supported in part by a grant from the Fahs-Beck Fund for Research and Experimentation.