Carolina Valdivia
Biographic Data
| ID | 3797470 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Carolina Valdivia |
| GIVEN NAMES | Carolina |
| FAMILY NAME | Valdivia |
| SIGNATURE | VALDIVIA C |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of California, Irvine |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-3964-7210 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 13 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 62 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 13 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2019 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Deepening Our Understanding of Basic Needs Through the Lens of Undocumented College Students
While scholars have examined college students’ basic needs insecurities, little remains known about the experiences of Latinx undocumented students. Drawing on 93 interviews with Latinx undocumented undergraduates across the country, we find that these students encounter significant structural barriers that prevent them from regularly and adequately meeting their food and housing needs. Under certain circumstances, other issues such as transporta…
Constructing Compliance, Institutionalizing Creative Solutions
Law and society scholars have examined how nonlegal actors, or “legal intermediaries,” construct the meaning of compliance as they translate law into organizational practice and policy. This article applies the legal intermediaries framework to analyze how higher education professionals navigate federal and state immigration law to mitigate the impact of illegality on undocumented students at the institutional level. We find that staff work withi…
Sanctuary Making
Immigration policy and enforcement practices in the United States now extend beyond the border to the country's interior, impacting the private lives of millions of undocumented and mixed-status families in new ways. Sanctuary Making traces this shift, showing how as enforcement has expanded and deepened, new "hot spots" have appeared across nontraditional sites such as neighborhoods, roads, worksites, hospitals, grocery stores, and homes. Underc…
A Call for New Frameworks to Capture Latinx Immigrant Young Adults’ Racialized Educational Experiences in the United States
This article assesses the literature on immigrant assimilation frequently used to explain the educational experiences and trajectories of immigrant young adults in the United States. These analyses often under-theorize the central roles that racialization, racism, and discrimination based on race and ethnicity play in shaping Latinx immigrant youth and young adults’ well-being, opportunities, aspirations, and impact on their access to resources. …
Hyper-Illegality, Reentry, and Everyday Life in the United States Post-Deportation
This article centers on the experiences of an understudied segment of the undocumented population: individuals who reenter the United States post-deportation without authorization and their family members. The state classifies unauthorized reentry after deportation as a criminal offense rather than a civil violation, thereby designating these individuals as felons. On the basis of 113 in-depth interviews with undocumented returnees and their rela…
Fear, stigma, hope, and desahogó
Based on 75 interviews with members of undocumented and mixed-status families where someone has returned to the United States post-deportation, we examine how individuals within these households manage multiple stigmatized identities stemming from their loved one's lack of legal status and deportation record. We find that a family member's deportation history is an important marker of identity, which subsequently limits the amount of immigration-…
Fear and Stigma
This article examines undocumented Latinx students' decisions to disclose or conceal their immigration status with institutional agents and peers, as well as the benefits and risks embedded with these decisions. It is based on the perspectives and experiences of 25 immigrant students in San Diego County who identify as currently or formerly undocumented. Students described different forms and layers of disclosure that took into consideration enfo…
I'll be risking myself just to get an education
This article examines how local-level immigration enforcement practices shape undocumented students’ educational experiences and trajectories. Drawing on 71 in-depth interviews with immigrant young adults who grew up undocumented and attended a public high school in San Diego County, this article illustrates the increasing number of places that have become associated with immigration enforcement and subsequently deemed unsafe for undocumented stu…
“I Became a Mom Overnight”
This article examines how the detention or deportation of a parent shapes the roles and responsibilities of young adults within the household and the consequences that these changes have on their educational experiences. Drawing from thirty-two in-depth interviews with young adults living in the United States whose parent was detained, author Carolina Valdivia finds that children’s responsibilities within the family abruptly change as soon as a p…
How Interior Immigration Enforcement Affects Trust in Law Enforcement
The day-to-day behaviors of undocumented immigrants are significantly affected when local law enforcement officials do the work of federal immigration enforcement. One such behavior, which has been widely discussed in debates over so-called sanctuary policies, is that undocumented immigrants are less likely to report crimes to the police when local law enforcement officials work with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on federal immig…
Expanding Geographies of Deportability
This article examines the impact of policies and programs that have expanded immigration enforcement from the federal to the local level. Drawing from in‐depth interviews with over sixty individuals who are members of undocumented or mixed‐status families, I discuss how these initiatives have extended the geography of deportability from traditional sites that focus explicitly on immigration enforcement (e.g., the US–Mexico border) to more nontrad…
Migrant Illegality across Uneven Legal Geographies
The Political Incorporation of Undocumented Youth
This article develops and empirically tests a model of political incorporation for undocumented youth in the United States, focusing on nonvoting forms of political engagement. Using one of the first nationwide surveys of undocumented millennials between the ages of 18 and 35 (n = 1,472), we show that (1) undocumented youth express much higher levels of political efficacy and participation than the literature on immigrant political incorporation …
Expanding Geographies of Deportability
This article examines the impact of policies and programs that have expanded immigration enforcement from the federal to the local level. Drawing from in‐depth interviews with over sixty individuals who are members of undocumented or mixed‐status families, I discuss how these initiatives have extended the geography of deportability from traditional sites that focus explicitly on immigration enforcement (e.g., the US–Mexico border) to more nontrad…
How Interior Immigration Enforcement Affects Trust in Law Enforcement
The day-to-day behaviors of undocumented immigrants are significantly affected when local law enforcement officials do the work of federal immigration enforcement. One such behavior, which has been widely discussed in debates over so-called sanctuary policies, is that undocumented immigrants are less likely to report crimes to the police when local law enforcement officials work with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on federal immig…
The Political Incorporation of Undocumented Youth
This article develops and empirically tests a model of political incorporation for undocumented youth in the United States, focusing on nonvoting forms of political engagement. Using one of the first nationwide surveys of undocumented millennials between the ages of 18 and 35 (n = 1,472), we show that (1) undocumented youth express much higher levels of political efficacy and participation than the literature on immigrant political incorporation …
Migrant Illegality across Uneven Legal Geographies
I'll be risking myself just to get an education
This article examines how local-level immigration enforcement practices shape undocumented students’ educational experiences and trajectories. Drawing on 71 in-depth interviews with immigrant young adults who grew up undocumented and attended a public high school in San Diego County, this article illustrates the increasing number of places that have become associated with immigration enforcement and subsequently deemed unsafe for undocumented stu…
Expanding Geographies of Deportability
This article examines the impact of policies and programs that have expanded immigration enforcement from the federal to the local level. Drawing from in‐depth interviews with over sixty individuals who are members of undocumented or mixed‐status families, I discuss how these initiatives have extended the geography of deportability from traditional sites that focus explicitly on immigration enforcement (e.g., the US–Mexico border) to more nontrad…
Migrant Illegality across Uneven Legal Geographies
The Political Incorporation of Undocumented Youth
This article develops and empirically tests a model of political incorporation for undocumented youth in the United States, focusing on nonvoting forms of political engagement. Using one of the first nationwide surveys of undocumented millennials between the ages of 18 and 35 (n = 1,472), we show that (1) undocumented youth express much higher levels of political efficacy and participation than the literature on immigrant political incorporation …
“I Became a Mom Overnight”
This article examines how the detention or deportation of a parent shapes the roles and responsibilities of young adults within the household and the consequences that these changes have on their educational experiences. Drawing from thirty-two in-depth interviews with young adults living in the United States whose parent was detained, author Carolina Valdivia finds that children’s responsibilities within the family abruptly change as soon as a p…
How Interior Immigration Enforcement Affects Trust in Law Enforcement
The day-to-day behaviors of undocumented immigrants are significantly affected when local law enforcement officials do the work of federal immigration enforcement. One such behavior, which has been widely discussed in debates over so-called sanctuary policies, is that undocumented immigrants are less likely to report crimes to the police when local law enforcement officials work with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on federal immig…
I'll be risking myself just to get an education
This article examines how local-level immigration enforcement practices shape undocumented students’ educational experiences and trajectories. Drawing on 71 in-depth interviews with immigrant young adults who grew up undocumented and attended a public high school in San Diego County, this article illustrates the increasing number of places that have become associated with immigration enforcement and subsequently deemed unsafe for undocumented stu…
A Call for New Frameworks to Capture Latinx Immigrant Young Adults’ Racialized Educational Experiences in the United States
This article assesses the literature on immigrant assimilation frequently used to explain the educational experiences and trajectories of immigrant young adults in the United States. These analyses often under-theorize the central roles that racialization, racism, and discrimination based on race and ethnicity play in shaping Latinx immigrant youth and young adults’ well-being, opportunities, aspirations, and impact on their access to resources. …
Hyper-Illegality, Reentry, and Everyday Life in the United States Post-Deportation
This article centers on the experiences of an understudied segment of the undocumented population: individuals who reenter the United States post-deportation without authorization and their family members. The state classifies unauthorized reentry after deportation as a criminal offense rather than a civil violation, thereby designating these individuals as felons. On the basis of 113 in-depth interviews with undocumented returnees and their rela…
Fear, stigma, hope, and desahogó
Based on 75 interviews with members of undocumented and mixed-status families where someone has returned to the United States post-deportation, we examine how individuals within these households manage multiple stigmatized identities stemming from their loved one's lack of legal status and deportation record. We find that a family member's deportation history is an important marker of identity, which subsequently limits the amount of immigration-…
Fear and Stigma
This article examines undocumented Latinx students' decisions to disclose or conceal their immigration status with institutional agents and peers, as well as the benefits and risks embedded with these decisions. It is based on the perspectives and experiences of 25 immigrant students in San Diego County who identify as currently or formerly undocumented. Students described different forms and layers of disclosure that took into consideration enfo…
Deepening Our Understanding of Basic Needs Through the Lens of Undocumented College Students
While scholars have examined college students’ basic needs insecurities, little remains known about the experiences of Latinx undocumented students. Drawing on 93 interviews with Latinx undocumented undergraduates across the country, we find that these students encounter significant structural barriers that prevent them from regularly and adequately meeting their food and housing needs. Under certain circumstances, other issues such as transporta…
Constructing Compliance, Institutionalizing Creative Solutions
Law and society scholars have examined how nonlegal actors, or “legal intermediaries,” construct the meaning of compliance as they translate law into organizational practice and policy. This article applies the legal intermediaries framework to analyze how higher education professionals navigate federal and state immigration law to mitigate the impact of illegality on undocumented students at the institutional level. We find that staff work withi…
Sanctuary Making
Immigration policy and enforcement practices in the United States now extend beyond the border to the country's interior, impacting the private lives of millions of undocumented and mixed-status families in new ways. Sanctuary Making traces this shift, showing how as enforcement has expanded and deepened, new "hot spots" have appeared across nontraditional sites such as neighborhoods, roads, worksites, hospitals, grocery stores, and homes. Underc…
Immigration (12 works) · Migration, Health and Trauma (10 works) · Law (8 works) · Political science (8 works) · Migration, Refugees, and Integration (7 works) · Enforcement (6 works) · Sociology (6 works) · Criminology (5 works) · Education and experiences of immigrants and refugees (5 works) · Law enforcement (5 works)