Nowhere to Turn: Recently Arrived Central American Immigrant Mothers Experiencing Compounded Disadvantage in the Suburbs

Background and Purpose:

Extant research has analyzed the intersection of migration, gender and the violence experienced while living with limited legal status in the United States. However, less is understood about the experience of asylum seekers and undocumented immigrant mothers who navigate tentative legal status and care for their children in the U.S. and abroad, as they are employed in low wage service jobs in the suburbs. This research contributes to filling this gap and sheds light on this experience of compounded disadvantage- being undocumented, poor and an immigrant woman in suburbia and their limited strategies for survival.

Methods:

The study used phenomenological methodology and Feminist Standpoint Theory to guide the research. Twenty-five in-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with transnational Central American mothers who had migrated without their children from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras to Long Island, New York. Ten in-depth interviews were also conducted with key informants from direct service organizations. Participants were recruited via posted fliers and outreach to three direct service organizations. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and coded thematically.

Results:

The women in this study shared that they had limited resources, services and social support as recently arrived immigrants. Their limited legal status was an impediment for finding better sources of employment beyond domestic labor and service work. The suburban context of reception and isolated work as domestic workers also subjected them to a hostile environment due to employer mistreatment. Participants also shared they had few sources of familial and social support and often felt they were creating a burden for family members. New partners in the US helped ease the burden of covering their basic needs and being able to send remittances home, but in situations where there was abuse, it also made it difficult to leave the relationship. Such abuse existed in their daily living arrangements, family relationships, jobs, and with new romantic partners.

Conclusions and Implications:

This analysis sheds new light on the conditions shaping the experience of recently arrived asylum seeking and undocumented immigrant mothers. It also reveals their exposure to violence exasperates their experience of compounded disadvantage. Study participants’ experiences of isolation, struggle, violence, and sacrifice demanded that mothers develop new strategies for survival including reaching out to service organizations that provided diverse services like gender based violence services, immigration services and workplace support. This study can offer social worker practitioners useful insight on the various dimensions of need immigrant mothers with limited legal status face in suburban communities like Long Island, NY and others.