Immigrant Youth Experiences from the Caretakers’ Perspective : Central American Minors in the DC Metropolitan Area

The Washington, DC, metropolitan area, encompassing parts of DC, Maryland, and Virginia (DMV), receives immigrants from all over the world, especially Central America. This includes minors who face unique struggles before, during, and after their migration journeys. In this paper, we utilize interview data collected from a mixed-methods study undertaken to understand the experiences of Central American youth migrants and their sponsors in the DMV. A sponsor is an adult deemed capable by the Department of Health and Human Services of providing for a child migrant's physical and mental wellbeing and accompanying them through immigration proceedings. The interviews were coded using NVivo. The aim was to discover what themes emerge when considering the sponsor’s perspective on the child migrant experience. The sponsor data revealed three main types of difficulties experienced by youth: concerns over legal status, alienation from caregivers, and barriers in schooling. We found that the anxiety that stems from legal status varies by age group (first generation and 1.5 generation migrants). The study confirms that parents migrating ahead of their children often creates a rift between parents and kids that is hard to bridge after reunification. The data collected also provides first-hand accounts of how arduous the matriculation process can be for immigrant youth and their families in U.S. schools and how challenging the adjustment process is for youth. Difficulties ranged from academic to emotional and provided evidence for the need to further language access and integration in U.S. public schools. By highlighting the perspectives of sponsors using their own words, this research also works to reshape perceptions of immigrant families by showing the resilience of sponsors and the love and support they give the kids in their care