Her first book, “Sin Padres, Ni Papeles,” compassionately heard the voices of young Central American and Mexican immigrants who were struggling to adjust to life in the United States after immigrating without parents or documents. It is something that has been woven together.
“This is a story about inclusion, but also about deep marginalization,” Cañizares said.
According to the Department of Health and Human Services, nearly 129,000 unaccompanied minors crossed the U.S. southern border in 2022. The issue was widely publicized in 2014 when photos of children in cages were released to the public due to a surge in immigration.
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Cañizares’ research began in 2012, when the Obama administration created the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which allowed some immigrant youth temporary relief from deportation and renewable legal work permits. .
While DACA had a positive impact on some people, Cañizares wrote that 62% of undocumented youth who did not meet the policy’s education requirements were left behind.
Those left behind included young people she met in Los Angeles, many of whom had traveled without legal guardians or documentation and therefore assumed the role of low-wage workers rather than students. .
Cañizares gently explores the hearts of young people like Tomás, a garment worker who left Guatemala at the age of 14, years after his mother abandoned him and his sister Susana.
Susana first left Guatemala and welcomed her brother into her home in the Pico Union neighborhood of central Los Angeles, where her undocumented husband and U.S.-born children had originally settled.
But Susana, fearing to put her family at risk of deportation, quickly kicked Tomás out, leaving the mentally paralyzed boy unable to ask anyone for help.
“Tomás’ only social connection was with his employer, who allowed him to sleep in the factory until he found a room to rent in an apartment with other young garment workers,” Cañizares wrote. .
Many unaccompanied young people like Tomas struggled to find community, leading some to what Cañizares described as “destruction.”
It is during this time that young people turn to drugs, get into unhealthy relationships, and self-harm.
“These are not the failures of young people…or that immigrants are not inherently destined to do these things,” Cañizares stressed. “What I really want to emphasize is that anyone who doesn’t have meaningful social connections can find themselves in situations like this as a way to cope with loneliness.”
Despite the hardships young people are experiencing, they often portray themselves on social media as “doing better” in the United States than they actually are, which “perpetuates the idea of the American Dream.” said Canizares.
“There is an attempt to save face for the families and communities they left behind,” Cañizares said. “They send in their best work success stories, send in as much money as they can, and don’t tell their families that they only have $5 left.”
On the other hand, when young people form close relationships, they are more likely to experience adjustment.
“In some cases, young people adapt materially to what it means to be a worker, or how to use public transportation or where to go to buy groceries,” Cañizares said.
Additionally, Cañizares said that while writing the book, he wanted to “criticize the top-down metrics of success that we’ve been imposing on ourselves.” [on] An immigrant group [on] Society as a whole. ”
Cañizares said the “success” of “good immigrants” is often measured by socio-economic indicators, such as earning a college degree or starting a business.
“From early childhood, from parent-led homes, from K-12 schools, from the U.S. legal system, from Indigenous youth, from the Latinx category, but not just from the full spectrum of society. You’re looking at a group of dislocated kids who are both anti-Black, anti-Indigenous and anti-immigrant,” Cañizares said. “There was no chance in heaven or hell on earth for these young people to be able to accomplish those things because all of this combined and they were so far removed from the norm.”
Instead, Cañizares said she ended every interview by asking young people what success meant to them.
“Young people say, ‘Success for me is that I got better at sewing, that I learned a skill, that I spoke a little bit better English, that I went from being a dishwasher to being a delivery person to being a waiter.’ He gave it to me,” Cañizares said. “In the same way, I was always measuring their emotional self by those indicators. “I had been abused in my home country, and when I came here I was really depressed, confused, and confused. But look at me now, I’m not so depressed.”
Cañizares said that he “continued to be shocked” as he listened to young people’s stories throughout his six years of research.
“I’m hearing people right now talking about experiences that were very painful for them and that they hadn’t expected in decades,” Cañizares said. “But they still hope tomorrow will be better.”
