Responses to Anti-immigration Policies and Rhetoric among Migrant Young Adults from Latin America

Introduction by: Melissa Ortiz, New York University and Sophia Rodriguez, New York University

March 26, 2026

Guest Blogger: Andrea Negrete, PhD, Assistant Professor of Psychology and Integrative Sciences at Wesleyan University

In this week’s blog, Dr. Negrete from Wesleyan University draws from a qualitative study to understand how migrant young adults of varying legal status make sense of immigration policies and rhetoric, how this shapes their social analysis related to immigration, and their advocacy efforts to counter oppression. Through these interviews, readers will learn how these youth reflect and respond to immigration policies and rhetoric at the interpersonal and macro level, and the challenges they face in organizing for change. Highlighting migrant youths’ voices, this blog also sheds light on the diverse perspectives youths have on the treatment of immigrants and how educators can best facilitate critical action among migrant youth.

We welcome additional comments and reflections, please email us at: sophia.rodriguez@nyu.edu or through the Immigrant Ed Next website.

By: Andrea Negrete

Immigration policies and rhetoric are consequential for the healthy development of migrant youth. Hostile and exclusionary polices, such as threats of deportation, produce fear and uncertainty leading to chronic stress and hypervigilance. Migrant youth may also respond to the hostile context through behavioral changes such as avoiding doctors’ visits, missing school, and not attending work, which go on to impact their health, educational opportunities, and economic well-being. The social and political context surrounding immigration may also result in some migrant youth to become distrusting of social institutions, which in turn may lead to a withdrawal from civic and political participation. Other migrant youth may internalize and perpetuate the stereotypes that falsely connect immigrants with criminality. On the other hand, many migrant youth have also shown extraordinary leadership through national and local advocacy efforts to challenge racist and exclusionary immigration policies and rhetoric.

Developing a structural analysis of systems of oppression (i.e., critical reflection) and engaging in actions to challenge systems of oppression (i.e., critical action) can support youths’ healing from systems of oppression and support their healthy development. This is because migrant youth may be more likely to challenge their social conditions if they view their social conditions as part of a larger system responsible for producing social inequality. Additionally, the causes they attribute to the unjust treatment of immigrants are likely to inform their ideas on what should be done and the types of social change they will support. Considering the different trajectories migrant youth may take in response to an anti-immigration context, it is important to further understand how the sociopolitical context surrounding immigration informs how migrant youth think about social inequality and the decisions they make around challenging unjust policies.

Our Research Study

This qualitative study was conducted by Andrea Negrete, Laura Ramirez-Arellano, Melissa Lucas, and Noelle Hurd to understand how migrant young adults’ meaning-making of immigration policies and rhetoric shapes their social analysis related to immigration, as well as actions intended to counter oppression. Furthermore, we examined what facilitators and barriers they report to engaging in actions to challenge the anti-immigration context.

We conducted interviews with 30 young adults who had histories of migration to the U.S. from Latin America and who were experiencing various legal statuses (e.g., undocumented, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, asylum, naturalized citizen, legal permanent resident, U Visa, and Temporary Protected Status). We recruited migrant young adults who were between 18-25 years old, not enrolled in a four-year university, and outside of formal activist organizations. Interviews occurred between January and July 2020 during the COVID-19 stay-at-home orders and the first Trump Administration.

During these interviews, migrant young adults were asked to share their perspectives about immigration events that stood out to them and their perceptions regarding the treatment of immigrants nationally and locally. We also asked them about their individual responses to unjust treatment, participation in events to address injustice or to create change in their community, and whether they had ever attended a march or protest.

Our Findings

Critical reflection of immigration policies and rhetoric

“America’s not the home of the immigrants. The whole America wasn’t even based on immigrants. And you’re saying, “Go back to your country.” Well, whose country was it in the first place? Half of the US used to be Mexico. All of the US used to be all [indigenous land]. So this land is – technically, we’re a bunch of people on stolen land.” – Cristofer, DACA Beneficiary

Migrant young adults provided three distinct types of responses about the causes of the unjust treatment of immigrants. First, there was a group of migrant youth who acknowledged the unjust treatment of immigrants but seemed unsure as to why these events were occurring or felt that there would always be bad actors who discriminated against immigrants. A second group of migrant youth consistently named racist institutions as the root causes for the unjust treatment of immigrants. Importantly, a third group of the migrant youth named structural factors, such as racism, but also provided explanations that focused on the individual behaviors of immigrants to explain their unjust treatment. In most cases, the individual explanations minimized structural factors.

Critical action in response to immigration policies and rhetoric

“When it comes to injustice, I believe that you have to defend what is fair. We must not let them be unjust and let ourselves forget about it or be like nothing matters to me.”- Margarita, Legal Permanent Resident

About half of the migrant youth in the study were participating in at least one of three types of actions to challenge unjust immigration policies and rhetoric. Some migrant youths were challenging racism and xenophobia at the interpersonal level, such as speaking up when someone was being targeted for their undocumented status or speaking Spanish in public. Others were organizing for social change through participation in collective efforts to change policies, such as advocating for state drivers’ licenses for undocumented community members. A few migrant youths were helping to meet community needs. Specifically, after becoming aware of needs in the immigrant community, these young people were compelled to respond due to their personal connections with the issue. For example, one youth became aware of undocumented families being scared to drive to local food banks during COVID-19 stay-at-home orders due to increased threats of deportation during the first Trump Presidency and volunteered to go on their behalf. Another young adult migrant drew on her bilingualism to help immigrant community members translate important court documents, as she knew that missing a court date could lead to their deportation.

Migrant youth’s involvement in critical action, particularly organizing for social change, was supported through relationships with peers, community leaders, and modeling from parents and siblings. Importantly, migrant youth exercised agency and weighed risks and time constraints in deciding whether and how to engage in actions to challenge unjust immigration policies and rhetoric. For some youth, fear of violence at protests and fear of arrest that could lead to deportation shaped their decisions. For others, navigating multiple jobs, school demands, and family obligations made it difficult to participate, despite a desire to. Other participants did not agree on protest as a strategy to create change and preferred other strategies to engagement. Finally, a few participants noted not being aware of opportunities or were not connected to networks that could incorporate them into larger efforts for social change.

Conclusion

Our study highlights how the sociopolitical context surrounding immigration informed migrant youth’s critical reflection and action. Importantly, our findings highlight the diverse perspectives that migrant youth hold regarding the treatment of immigrants as well as the ways they exercise agency when deciding how and when to engage in critical action. Findings suggest that efforts to facilitate critical action among migrant young adults must include collective opportunities for the development of critical analysis and facilitation of connections with organizers while addressing legitimate barriers and risks to critical action.