Roberto Gonzales Migration Journey

Some of the youth who were brought to the United States as children don’t have any recollection of their migration journey. Those youth that were too young to remember go their entire childhood without realizing or being told that they are illegally living in this country. Roberto Gonzales explains that there is a specific transition that adults emerge into when they find out that they are illegal. When the youth are in school (K-12) is when they feel a sense of protection. Feeling unprotected emerges when the youth are transitioning to adulthood and have to decide whether they will attend college, work, or both. This transition brings many emotions and implications that make a person concern about their new identity, their objectives, the

I too had already given up on the idea that I was going to college. The discovering age as Gonzales describes it completely disoriented me; I was no longer feeling the same aspirations because everything I had set my goals on was being questioned because of all my limitations. I’m currently 23 turning 24 soon and I feel that I’m already at the coping age. I see all the effort I have put into school, but is it really going to pay off or will my options continue to be limited. After experiencing this my perspective towards my family didn’t change drastically, but before there was no sense of pride, which could be because I was younger and didn’t understand. Now I see all the obstacles my family and I have had to overcome and it makes me feel proud that regardless of what the obstacle was they were able to make it this far. My goals and accomplishments are not just mine; they are my families as well. Taking this into consideration I’m not upset that they didn’t tell me. In-fact I appreciate them helping me cope and pursue everything that I was told I was limited to. Although I speak English and have a higher education than my parents I still see no social capacity even though it should exist. It’s impressive what nine digits can either grant you or limit you from. Immigration policies play a fundamental role in our lives because our participation in society is

To better understand these power relations Orellana et al, describes Bonnie Urciuoli’s power dimensions that allow us to understand this concept through the inner and outter spheres. The inner sphere is seen as one’s comfort zone where all the relations in that sphere are with people who are equal to one another. In the outter sphere is where migrant individuals become the most vulnerable because they are in this sphere with individuals who have a greater advantage over them. Engaging with individual in the inner sphere opens up a content space where the same language is spoken and family members are present. Aside from the outter sphere causing unequal power relation it also requires some greater understanding of concepts such as something an adult would