National Identity and Integration Challenges of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) Recipients

Sofia Paschero and Jody McBrien
Additional contact information
Sofia Paschero: History Department, College of Arts and Sciences, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL 33620, USA
Jody McBrien: School of Interdisciplinary Global Studies, College of Arts and Sciences, University of South Florida, Sarasota, FL 34243, USA

Societies, 2021, vol. 11, issue 1, 1-15

Abstract: Approximately 650,000 children and young adults currently reside in the United States with Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) status, providing them with temporary legal status to reside in the country. We explored the phenomenon of how five DACA recipients experienced their national identities and how it contributed to their acculturation patterns using in-depth semi-structured interviews. We interpreted their comments through the theoretical lens of Berry’s (1997) acculturation theory and Edensor’s (2002) emphasis on everyday life as a critical factor of national identity. Although the participants had the desire to remain in the United States and be a part of U.S. culture, everyday realities of discrimination, and challenges accomplishing common life tasks taken for granted by American peers (getting a driver’s license, travelling, working, obtaining financial aid for higher education) kept the participants from fully integrating into American society and gaining a sense of belonging.

Keywords: DACA; undocumented immigrants; identity; acculturation; integration (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A13 A14 P P0 P1 P2 P3 P4 P5 Z1 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4698/11/1/24/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4698/11/1/24/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsoctx:v:11:y:2021:i:1:p:24-:d:517809

Access Statistics for this article

Societies is currently edited by Ms. Farrah Sun

More articles in Societies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().