"Ellos Estan Al Pendiente": Youth Brokering in Latine Immigrant Families during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Background and Purpose: Latine children of immigrants play a pivotal role in mediating and brokering their families' interactions with public and social institutions in the U.S., a function that has become even more critical in the face of a hostile sociopolitical immigration climate. Less is known about how the pressures of the COVID-19 pandemic—characterized by restricted freedoms, increased caregiving burdens due to remote schooling, and amplified anti-immigrant sentiment—have affected the frequency and intensity of children’s brokering activities and the subsequent impact on family dynamics.

Methods: To understand these complexities, this study draws on interviews before and at the onset of COVID-19 with 58 Latine immigrant and citizen parents most of who were undocumented (N=41).

Results: Findings suggest that parents not only counted on their children for support and autonomy but also recognized the trade-offs involved, particularly in relation to the children's education and emotional health. While many families have historically depended on such brokering, the pandemic heightened the consequences of these practices, making them more acute and visible concurrently with the act of brokering itself.

Conclusions and Implications: Understanding these dynamics is critical, as the findings suggest that crises like the COVID-19 pandemic not only magnify existing structural vulnerabilities that necessitate brokering but also accelerate and compound their effects. This knowledge is vital for developing supportive measures for immigrant families, particularly children who shoulder these responsibilities. Furthermore, it is also important to recognize Latine youth as laborers who respond to the exclusionary circumstances their families face, and to consider how early engagement in adult-like labor influences their health over their life course. Finally, consistent with the principles of Reproductive Justice, which emphasize understanding the effects of politics and policy on the real-life experiences of communities, this study highlights the need to examine how anti-immigrant and exclusionary socio-political climates affect family dynamics and the responsibilities undertaken by Latine youth as a reaction to these exclusions. Taking these findings into account allows for a deeper exploration of the contextual factors potentially affecting health disparities within Latine communities in the United States.