The Bureaucratic Encounter and Shifting Social Constructions Among Migrant Youth During the DACA Application Process

Abstract

This article examines shifting social constructions of the self among undocumented Latino college and university student applicants for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, in the United States. A 2012 memo issued by the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security deferred deportation action on undocumented youth who were current or former students or military veterans, and who met certain other age, length of residence, and criminal record criteria. Using qualitative data from interviews with 20 DACA applicants, this article explores how bureaucratic encounters that occur through the DACA application process inform ideas about citizenship and identity that are held by the undocumented Latino student population, and how these youth understand their relationship to the U.S. The data show that college and university students undergo a shift in their self-perception and behavior, with their social construction of themselves changing from deviant to deserving as they move through the DACA application process. We believe the analysis is relevant to the current political environment as the portrayal of immigrants is being rapidly reshaped under the Trump administration. Our analysis suggests that these changing portrayals will generate changes in the self-perception and behavior of undocumented Latino students vis-à-vis the state. Our article makes an important contribution to the public administration literature, which at present gives only limited attention to migrants and processes of “administering migration.”