Between Protection and Exclusion: Liminal Status and Latino Youth Civic and Political Participation in the Shadow of Immigration Enforcement

While previous research has demonstrated the mobilizing effect of immigration enforcement contact on Latino political participation, Latino adolescents have been largely absent in their findings. In this paper, I contend that, like adults, Latino adolescents can be mobilized by contact with immigration enforcement—leading to increased civic and political participation. I further posit that the effects of proximal contact with immigration enforcement—experiences involving others but not oneself—will be heightened among Latino adolescents living with the precarity of temporary non-citizen statuses, meaning those protected from deportation, but provided no pathway to citizenship. Using data from the 2020 Youth Collaborative Multi-Cultural Post-Election Survey (CMPS), I show that Latino adolescents who have experienced personal and proximal contact with immigration enforcement are more likely to be civically and politically engaged, and that adolescent Latinos with the most precarious statuses are mobilized to a greater extent by proximal contact with immigration enforcement. As one of the fastest-growing cohorts in the United States, Latino adolescents represent a population critical for understanding the future of American politics. My results highlight how racialized experiences with immigration enforcement are shaping the political socialization of this rising generation.