Lives in Limbo ─ Undocumented and Coming of Age in America

My world seems upside down. I have grown up but I feel like I’m moving backwards. And I can’t do anything about it.” Esperanza

Of the nation’s 11 million undocumented immigrants, over two million have lived in the United States since childhood. Due to a broken immigration system they grow up to uncertain futures. InLives in Limbo Roberto G. Gonzales introduces us to two groups: the college-goers, like Ricardo, whose good grades and strong network of community support propelled him to college and DREAM Act organizing, only to land in a factory job a few short years after graduation; and the early-exiters like Gabriel who, although from similar circumstances, failed to make meaningful connections in high school and started navigating dead-end jobs, immigration checkpoints, and a world narrowly circumscribed by legal limitations as a teenager. Framed by a life course perspective, this vivid ethnography asks: Why do highly educated undocumented youth ultimately share similar work and life outcomes with their less educated peers, even as higher education is touted as the path to integration and success in America?

Based on an extraordinary twelve-year study that followed 150 undocumented young adults in Los Angeles,Lives in Limbo exposes the failures of a system that integrates children into K-12 schools but ultimately denies them a seat at the table. Gonzales bookends his study with discussions of how the prospect of immigration reform, especially the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, could impact the lives of these young Americans.

Roberto G. Gonzales is Assistant Professor at Harvard University Graduate School of Education.