Author(s): Galli, Chiara | Abstract: This paper examines the effects of immigration laws on unaccompanied minors from Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala who migrate to the United States and encounter a context of reception that is ambivalent towards them: they are considered deserving of protection as unaccompanied minors, yet also subjected to exclusion and state legal violence as undocumented immigrants. Apprehended at the US-Mexico border, they are categorized as “Unaccompanied Alien Children” (UACs), and they interact intensively with multiple immigration agencies. Interactions in these institutional spaces teach youths about US laws and behavioral norms expected of young humanitarian claimants deemed deserving of protection, which are construed in opposition to discourses that stigmatize their co-ethnics as “bogus minors/refugees,” “bad” immigrants, and deviant Latino teenagers. I highlight how these institutional encounters shape youths’ sense of belonging and their commonsense understandings of the law or legal consciousness. I argue that the legal consciousness of unaccompanied minors is dichotomous and characterized by the following elements: (1) a combination of trust and fear in the state; (2) concurrent feelings of deservingness/rights and stigma/subordination; (3) information and misinformation about US laws. This dichotomous legal consciousness shapes how UACs claim belonging and rights, both in everyday social interactions and during their applications for legal status in humanitarian adjudication bureaucracies. They do so by leveraging knowledge about their rights and normative notions about desirable teen and migrant behavior, and by perpetuating stigmas about co-ethics as they distance themselves from these to signal their own societal belonging and deservingness of discretionary humanitarian relief.

中文翻译：

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矛盾的美国接待语境与无人陪伴未成年人的二分法意识

作者(s): Galli, Chiara | 摘要：本文考察了移民法对来自洪都拉斯、萨尔瓦多和危地马拉的无人陪伴未成年人的影响，这些未成年人移民到美国并遇到了对他们矛盾的接待环境：他们被认为作为无人陪伴的未成年人应该受到保护，但还作为无证移民遭受排斥和国家法律暴力。在美墨边境被捕，他们被归类为“无人陪伴的外国儿童”（UAC），他们与多个移民机构密切互动。这些机构空间中的互动向年轻人传授了美国法律和行为规范，他们被认为应该受到保护的年轻人道主义索赔人，这被解释为反对将他们的同族裔污名化为“虚假的未成年人/难民，” “坏”移民和不正常的拉丁裔青少年。我强调这些机构性遭遇如何塑造青年的归属感以及他们对法律或法律意识的常识性理解。笔者认为，无人陪伴未成年人的法律意识是二分的，具有以下特征：（1）国家信任与恐惧的结合；(2) 同时感到应得/权利和污名/从属；(3) 关于美国法律的信息和错误信息。这种二分法意识塑造了 UAC 在日常社会交往中以及在人道主义裁决官僚机构中申请法律地位期间如何主张归属和权利的方式。他们通过利用关于他们的权利的知识和关于可取的青少年和移民行为的规范观念来做到这一点，