“A lot of people there were undocumented, or at least looked like me”: illegality, visibility and vulnerability among immigrant young adults in Florida

Abstract

ABSTRACT Contemporary migration studies in cultural geography emphasize place-based approaches, recognizing the relational and contextual nature of belonging, especially as these are nested within material and symbolic structures of racial inequality. This article highlights the role of precarious legal status, focusing on undocumented immigrant young adults who grew up in the United States, to examine subjective experiences of place-making and belonging in situations of heightened visibility, deportability and vulnerability. We analyze 56 interviews with undocumented immigrant young adults, predominantly from Latin America, collected in Central Florida. Findings focus on themes linked to shared experiences of vulnerability due to illegality and visibility: (1) belonging in co-ethnic/co-legal neighborhoods, (2) ethnic and racial tensions, (3) neighborhood (in)security and safety, and (4) mutual assistantance and support among neighbors. In addition to poverty, poor infrastructure, and lack of safety, many neighborhoods in which undocumented youth grow up are characterized by racial and ethnic divisions. Our findings contribute an analysis of how undocumented migrants experience place as intersecting with broader patterns of race and ethnicity, and point to the importance of “co-legal status”. This extension of the concept of co-ethnicity references shared experience of illegality as it relates to place-making for legally precarious individuals.