How Sponsor’s Legal Status and Relationship to Children Shape Unaccompanied Minors’ Integration

This grant is funded in part by the Carnegie Corporation of New York.

Unaccompanied minors are among the fastest growing and most vulnerable segments of the undocumented immigrant population. Prior research has focused on unaccompanied minors’ journeys. Less is known, however, about their experiences once they are released from federal custody to adult caregivers, known as sponsors, in the U.S. Sociologist Stephanie Canizales will examine how a sponsor’s legal status and their relationship to the unaccompanied minor impacts the minor’s integration in the U.S. She will conduct in-depth interviews with sponsors for her study.