Silvia Rodriguez Vega

This chapter sheds light on the experiences of immigrants criminalised by the immigration system in the USA. As the media perpetuates a discourse of immigrants as dangerous and threatening to a sanitised American way of life, the aim of this chapter is to focus on the often forgotten stories of people left out of the immigrant right’s agenda and often the main targets of punitive legal measures. At the centre of the chapter is ARTivism – activism through art. Inspired by the author’s film, Chupacabras: The Myth of The Bad Immigrant, undocumented immigrants in California were encouraged to take selfies with a chupacabras mask and stand up to dehumanisation and criminalisation of immigrants, by taking ‘selfless selfies’ and using the hashtags #NotYourChupacabras and #YourChupacabras.

Author(s): Rodriguez Vega, Silvia P. | Advisor(s): Abrego, Leisy J; Baca, Judith F | Abstract: Currently, about 20% of the young people in the United States are born to immigrant parents (Chaudry, 2010). There are an estimated 5.5 million U.S. children who grow up in immigrant homes (Passel, D'Vera Cohn, a Center, 2011). While the population of children in immigrant families continues to increase, anti-Latino immigrant sentiments and record numbers of deportations by the Obama administration are creating traumatizing experiences for the next generation of U.S. citizens. This study examines 115 drawings, poems, and letters by predominantly Mexican-American children ages 5-18 from immigrant families in what is known as the laboratory for anti-immigrant legislation--Phoenix, Arizona. This work provides a compelling look into the harrowing lives of children growing up in hostile anti-immigrant environments by using an artistic medium. Some of the themes found in this work include Fa...

In 2018 there have been constant anti-immigrant rhetoric, policies, and enforcement. Most recently, Trump referred to immigrant children as “future criminals” who needed to be kept in prison-like detention centers and “tender age facilities” (Min Kim, 2018). Meanwhile, the 4.5 million children of immigrants already in the US continue to face possibilities of family separation due to this enforcement-focused political system (Suárez-Orozco et al., 2015). The goal of this article is to provide insight into the lives of one of the most vulnerable and fastest growing populations in the U.S.—immigrant children. As a researcher and educator, I developed an art-centered methodological and pedagogical tool that can serve those working with immigrant children and vulnerable populations. Over a two-year period, I used artistic tools such as drawings, storyboards, Teatro Campesino’s actos, and various techniques from Theater of the Oppressed (Boal, 2000) to work with children of immigrants in ...

Guided by the following questions: (1) What are the experiences of immigrant children attending schools in communities experiencing police brutality and anti-immigrant sentiments? (2) How do middle school children of immigrants visually represent their experiences with legal violence? and (3) What are children’s visions of freedom and community safety in this context?, this article highlights the understudied preadolescent children of immigrants through a 2-year study of a multidisciplinary theater class at a local elementary school in South Central Los Angeles. Data includes child interviews, class observations, artwork, and performance videos, from recently arrived Mexican and Central American children aged 10 to 13 years. Findings reveal how children come to understand policing, reinforcing concepts like “good cop/bad cop,” conflating local police and ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) agents, but also imagining alternatives for community safety outside of police systems. ...

In 2018 there have been constant anti-immigrant rhetoric, policies, and enforcement. Most recently, Trump referred to immigrant children as “future criminals” who needed to be kept in prison-like detention centers and “tender age facilities” (Min Kim, 2018). Meanwhile, the 4.5 million children of immigrants already in the US continue to face possibilities of family separation due to this enforcement-focused political system (Suárez-Orozco et al., 2015). The goal of this article is to provide insight into the lives of one of the most vulnerable and fastest growing populations in the U.S.—immigrant children. As a researcher and educator, I developed an art-centered methodological and pedagogical tool that can serve those working with immigrant children and vulnerable populations. Over a two-year period, I used artistic tools such as drawings, storyboards, Teatro Campesino’s actos, and various techniques from Theater of the Oppressed (Boal, 2000) to work with children of immigrants in a sixth-grade class of English Language Learners (ELL) in Los Angeles. Through educational, artistic, and anecdotal components of their work, these children created a world where they could resist and fight Trump and share that victory by utilizing the transformative imaginary of art.

Hostile and unpredictable immigration policies can have detrimental consequences for children of immigrants. This study provides a snapshot of chil-dren's reactions to anti-immigrant policies in Arizona from 2007 to 2010. Through a visual content narrative analysis of 115 drawings by children in a community-run after-school program in Maricopa County, Phoenix, Arizona, this study chronicles, analyzes, and attempts to understand the ways children make sense of their positions and their families' security in US society. The themes that emerged from children's drawings include (1) detention and deportation, (2) violence and racism, and (3) resilience. The themes outlined in this paper suggest that in a continued repressive political context, children's preoccupations with family separation are likely to have lasting consequences as these children transition into adulthood. For scholars, educators , and policymakers, this study reveals the consequences of deportation-based fear on children's academic, emotional, and physical well-being. Keywords Immigrant children · Mixed-status families · Arizona · Art · Visual narrative · Legal violence Nine-year-old Daniela regularly came into the community center to do homework or make art projects. One Thursday afternoon, Daniela rushed into the center without her backpack. Crying and distraught, she told us that the sheriffs had taken her father during an immigration raid at the trailer park where her family lived. She was not sure if he would be deported or if she was ever going to see him again. These stories became common during 2007, when I began working as a teaching artist and

This chapter sheds light on the experiences of immigrants crim-inalised by the immigration system in the USA. As the media perpetuates a discourse of immigrants as dangerous and threatening to a sanitised American way of life, the aim of this chapter is to focus on the often forgotten stories of people left out of the immigrant right's agenda and often the main targets of punitive legal measures. At the centre of the chapter is ARTivism – activism through art. Inspired by the author's film, Chupacabras: The Myth of The Bad Immigrant, undocumented immigrants in California were encouraged to take selfies with a chupacabras mask and stand up to dehumanisation and criminalisation of immigrants, by taking 'selfless selfies' and using the hashtags #NotYourChupacabras and #YourChupacabras.

Increasingly hostile and unpredictable immigration policies can have traumatizing consequences for children of undocumented immigrants. This case study examines the way that increased practices of detention and deportation affect the childhood and adolescence of young people living in an anti-immigrant state like Arizona. Specifically, the life story of Katherine Figueroa during Arizona’s anti-immigrant climate, illustrates the struggle and implications for mixed-status families. The findings demonstrate the extent to which being separated from her parents influenced her mental health and academic life. The themes outlined in this paper suggest that in a continued repressive political context, children’s preoccupations and experiences with family separation are likely to have lasting consequences as these children transition into adulthood. Additionally, this study describes how community organizing, resources, support, and a proactive response to family separation can change the outcomes of parental detention. Findings from this study reveal, for educators, school administrators, counselors, community practitioners, and policy makers, how familial documentation status can have equally complex and lasting consequences for children’s academic, emotional, and physical well-being.

Illustrates how the children of immigrants use art to grapple with issues of citizenship, state violence, and belonging

Young immigrant children often do not have the words to express how their lives are shaped by issues of immigration, legal status, and state-sanctioned violence. Yet they are able to communicate its effects on them using art.

Based on ten years of work with immigrant children as young as six years old in Arizona and California— and featuring an analysis of three hundred drawings, theater performances, and family interviews—Silvia Rodriguez Vega provides accounts of children’s challenges with deportation and family separation during the Obama and Trump administrations. While much of the literature on immigrant children depicts them as passive, when viewed through this lens they appear as agents of their own stories.

The volume provides key insights into how immigrant children in both states presented creative, out-of-the-box, powerful solutions to the dilemmas that anti-immigrant rhetoric and harsh immigration laws present. Through art, they demonstrated a righteous indignation against societal violence, dehumanization, and death as a tool for navigating a racist, anti-immigrant society.

When children are the agents of their own stories, they can reimagine destructive situations in ways that adults sometimes cannot, offering us alternatives and hope for a better future. At once devastating and revelatory, Drawing Deportation provides a roadmap for how art can provide a safe and necessary space for vulnerable populations to assert their humanity in a world that would rather divest them of it.