Inequality within immigrant families in the United States are usually due to variations of legal status, employment and education opportunities, cultural differences, and assimilation within the same immigrant family. Members of the same immigrant family often have differing access to resources in the United States. Much literature focuses on inequality between families, but inequality often exists within families as well. Though within-family inequality is not unique to immigrant families, the processes of migration and assimilation into American society provide new channels through which such inequality may emerge.
Legal status Immigrants to the United States vary widely in terms of their citizenship status. Some immigrants may lack documentation altogether. An individual's legal status in the United States determines many of the resources available to him or her. Legal status can thus provide the basis for many inequalities in the home.
Mixed-status families The Citizenship Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution guarantees citizenship status to anyone born on United States soil "and subject to the jurisdiction thereof". This means that, regardless of parents' citizenship status, their children who are born in the United States are full citizens and are eligible for the rights and privileges that such status confers; this is called a mixed immigrant status family. Thus, within mixed-status families are a range of documentation patterns involving siblings: some born in the U.S. with birthright citizenship, some in the process of attempting to obtain documentation, and some fully undocumented.
U.S. immigration policies shape the opportunities for 16.6 million mixed immigrant families. The experiences of mixed immigrant status families need to be in sharper focus, especially the effects on children growing up in these families. There are an estimated 5.5 million children with unauthorized immigrant parents, about three-quarters of whom are U.S. born citizens. The nature of immigration policy dehumanizes individuals in mixed status families through practices that threat and harm, such as deportation procedures, which is when a migrant is formally removed from the United States and is banned from reentering. Immigration policies and practices do not only affect the undocumented population itself. However, U.S. born children growing up in families where there are undocumented members living are negatively impacted by these policies.
Children living in mixed immigration status households live with fear of deportation threats of parents or themselves. They often feel scared, sad and worried about possible separation. This can be traumatic and have negative effects on the children's well-being. As a result, children may interpret their reality as depriving and cruel. They may process their experiences with a consciousness that mirrors that of their undocumented parents, even though many are U.S. born citizens with all of the benefits rights, and privileges that U.S. citizenship carries.
Immigrant children—defined as those children under age eighteen who are either foreign-born or U.S.-born to immigrant parents—now account for one-fourth of the nation's 75 million children. By 2050 they are projected to make up one-third of more than 100 million U.S. children. This highlights that children of immigrants in mixed status families are growing in the United States. Therefore, it is of high importance to understand their experiences in this country and the impact that a mixed status has on the children growing up in these families facing unique needs and challenges. Mixed immigrant families' rights are being violated. When there is family separation through immigration practices, children in mixed status household are denied the right to grow up with their families. They are dehumanized, based on status of their parents.
Legal status can thus lead to a restructuring of traditional family roles. Family members who may have previously been the primary breadwinners in the country of origin may be unable to find gainful employment due to their undocumented status. Family members who are legal citizens and thus have access to a wider range of employment opportunities may therefore hold a greater measure of power within the family. When these family members are children, who might traditionally be expected to defer to their elders, such an imbalance in legal status may create an upheaval in the traditional familial relations.
Such unequal access to resources can create a power imbalance between family members who have citizenship status and those who do not. An individual's legal status may be used to keep him or her subjugated within the home and, in extreme cases, may prevent him or her from leaving an abusive situation.
Access to resources Individuals who hold legal status in the United States enjoy many advantages over those who do not. Differences in legal status are also associated with differing access to various resources such as employment opportunities, as well as a host of social benefits. In addition, children in mixed-status families are at-risk and precisely the types of clients targeted by many social services, social workers, and public health organizations. For example, Hispanics in general are less likely to be insured, within the pan-ethnic Hispanic population, immigrants without legal authorization are less likely to have employer coverage and are currently excluded from purchasing coverage from the federal exchange in the Affordable Care Act.
Employment opportunities Even when undocumented individuals are employed, their positions are often precarious. Approximately 40% of immigrant workers in low-wage jobs are undocumented. A lack of formal documentation means that many of these individuals must find work in the informal economy where there is a lack of protection for worker rights. Undocumented workers may have difficulty obtaining justice in cases of mistreatment since employers can easily threaten them with deportation. This leaves these immigrant workers vulnerable to exploitation. Exploitation may take many forms, one of these being wage theft. While there are regulations to protect the rights of workers, such as laws that cover private domestic work, these policies are often underutilized since workers may be unaware of their existence. Individuals who lack formal documentation may also feel less empowered to seek legal recourse because of fear of having their undocumented status made known.
Family members with legal status are more likely to have access to jobs with higher pay and benefits. Second generation immigrants in the United States, who are most likely full citizens, tend to have higher earnings and are less likely to be in poverty than first generation immigrants, some of whom lack formal legal status."Nation's Foreign-Born Population Nears 37 Million". Press Release. U.S. Census Bureau. October 19, 2010. (accessed March 2, 2012). Thus, the unequal access to employment opportunities can generate inequality among family members of different legal statuses.
Social benefits Citizens of the United States are entitled to a host of social benefits. Government programs such as Food Stamps and Medicaid can provide support for low-income families. However, children who are U.S. citizens may not always be able to fully enjoy these benefits. Immigrant parents with limited English language ability may be unaware they are eligible for such benefits, or may not know how to take advantage of social welfare programs. Even legal non-citizens may find that their access to social supports is restricted due to welfare reforms. In addition, parents who are undocumented may be afraid to deal with government agencies, even if their citizen children are eligible for such assistance programs. When there is risk of deportation, it affects the likelihood of a mixed-status mother's use social services. The anti-immigrant sentiment increases this and then would deter mixed-status mothers not to participate in government programs which their U.S. born children are eligible to receive.
Health care
Undocumented immigrants in mixed status families tend to work in jobs that do not provide employee based health insurance and/or employed in occupations that pay off the books. Moreover, we can also expect that poor noncitizen children whose parents lack job-based coverage have lower rates of participation than poor citizen children of U.S. citizens. The lack of insurance for citizen children in mixed-status families means that these children are less likely to receive timely care for acute conditions, and less likely to have their chronic conditions diagnosed and appropriately managed.
Gender Inequality in the family may occur along gender lines. This is not an issue unique to immigrant families. In many cultures around the world, men have traditionally held more power than women. Among families in the United States alone, gender inequality often exists, which is evident in the unequal sharing of household labor. The process of immigration entails a move to a new country, whose culture may have values that differ greatly from those of the home culture. In this transition from one geographical and social context to another, new forms of gender inequality can arise.
Shifts in gender roles The United States prides itself on being a society that supports gender equality. While, in reality, much gender inequality persists, there are indeed laws in place to protect the equal rights of everyone, regardless of gender. Depending on the home country, U.S. society may contain a much higher level of gender equality than immigrants are accustomed to, particularly if immigrants come from a traditionally patriarchal society. The disparity in gender norms between different cultures may cause gender roles in the family to shift.
Immigrants may find that they are a part of a lower socioeconomic status group in the United States than they were in their home country. Immigration research shows that it is rarely the poorest citizens of the sending countries that immigrate to the United States, simply because they cannot afford the associated costs. This is particularly true when they come from countries where the cost of living is not as high as in the United States. Individuals who may have held professional occupations in their country of origin may find themselves in low-paying jobs if their certifications are not recognized by the United States. When families migrate to the United States from a country with a patriarchal society, men in particular may experience a loss of status.
While women are also affected by the family's loss of status, they may simultaneously experience a boost in their own status relative to men because of the greater gender equality present in American society. Men, who may have been accustomed to filling the role of sole "breadwinner" in their home country may find themselves unable to do so in the United States. This is due both to restricted access to jobs and to prevalence of new immigrants in the low-wage sector. Immigrants in these jobs are unlikely to be able to support their entire families solely on their earnings. The increase in the number of female-dominated industries in the United States means that there are often more employment options for women in the low-wage sector than for men. If women begin to take a more active role in financially providing for their family, this is generally accompanied by enhanced status within the family.
Domestic violence