Voices of Immigrant Adolescents in New Destination Areas: Opportunities & Barriers within Restrictive Policy Contexts

Background
Many studies of immigrant integration focus on traditional immigrant gateways, but a growing percentage of immigrants are settling in new destination areas in the American Southeast.  Some new destination areas have passed highly restrictive legislation to discourage undocumented immigrants from settling in the state. Studies have begun to explore how these contexts influence social/economic integration for immigrant adults, but less attention has focused on the experiences of immigrant youth. Our study addresses this gap by exploring the perspectives of highly disadvantaged immigrant youth—defined as undocumented, limited English-proficient, and from low-income households— as they attempt to access higher education institutions and employment in a restrictive state policy context.

Methods
Three rounds of in-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with twenty immigrant adolescents who were, at the time of round 1 interviews, high school seniors on track to graduate. The sample is predominately female (65%) and Latino (95%). Respondents were recruited from one school in a southeastern state. Initial interviews explored adolescents’ educational trajectories, their immediate plans for graduation, and expectancies for college and/or career. Subsequent rounds of interviews, conducted after respondents’ high school graduation, focused on the transition to postsecondary education and/or workforce. Interviews were transcribed verbatim. Using NVivo software, a constant comparative approach was used between and within transcripts while coding. To support the study’s trustworthiness, analysis was conducted by two team members to reduce researcher bias; substantial quotes are featured to augment the study’s credibility.       

Findings
Adolescent immigrant youth experienced greatly varying educational trajectories leading to high school graduation. Commonality emerged in that youth’s families played a large role in shaping their aspirations, but not necessarily their achievement.  Outside the family, the presence or absence of connections with caring adults during high school played a central role in youths’ planning for and successful navigation of the post-graduation transition.  Many youth describe influential relationships with individual teachers or coaches during high school. Some participants even describe these relationships as the defining factor that positioned them for a successful transition. However, these connections were often idiosyncratic; few formal structures existed to provide consistent, wide-spread information and support specific to this population’s unique circumstances. Participants offer suggestions for how high schools can best support immigrant students, particularly those who are undocumented. Respondents describe similar experiences post-graduation: formal structures often present barriers rather than supports; individual connections and social capital most often facilitate successful navigation of barriers.

Conclusions
Social workers and public schools are often some of the first to respond to the needs of immigrant youth in new destinations. These practitioners need to be aware of the challenges immigrant youth encounter and the potential impact on youths’ emotional, academic, and economic success. Training for school- and community-based practitioners is needed to ensure that services provided are culturally informed and contextually appropriate. By identifying barriers and resources both within and outside the school setting, this study contributes to our understanding of how schools can shape the educational trajectories and social mobility of immigrant youth—and perhaps why, under some conditions, they cannot.