Activating agency and discretion: identifying factors affecting the interactions between unaccompanied migrant children and public servants

Abstract

Unaccompanied migrant children in the USA are subject to the immigration policies of the USA, as well as to the individuals who implement immigration policies. The interactions between unaccompanied migrant children and those who implement immigration policy are particularly important, as they mediate unaccompanied migrant children's experience in the USA and their final outcome in the country. However, these interactions are hard to understand, primarily because of limited access to both children and public servants. In this paper, we use qualitative data to explore potential factors for these interactions during a six-month period in 2014. We identify six themes relevant to children's migration process and demonstrate how these themes can act as factors in these interactions through the ways that unaccompanied migrant children employ their agency and public servants use their discretion.