Family Legal Vulnerability: How Immigration Policy Shapes the Lives of Latino College Students

Honorable Mention, 2026 International Latino Book Awards: Best Academic Themed Book, College Level

How college students in mixed-status families are affected by immigration policies

Focusing on Latinx students attending the University of California, Family Legal Vulnerability exposes how their educational experiences and social mobility are shaped not only by their own immigration status, but also by their family members’ undocumented immigration status. The authors introduce the concept of "family legal vulnerability" as a novel framework that captures how undocumented and mixed-status immigrant families collectively experience deportability, economic insecurity, discrimination, social exclusion, and legal uncertainty.

The authors show how the adverse effects of family legal vulnerability are similar for both college students who are undocumented and U.S. citizens with undocumented parents. Cascading consequences emerge among immigration-impacted students as family legal vulnerability compromises their mental and emotional health, academic success, and political engagement.

The book also illustrates how students demonstrate agency as they negotiate family legal vulnerability, seeking out ways to bolster their individual and collective flourishing. Ultimately, this book calls on scholars, policy makers, and university administrators to account for family legal vulnerability when considering how immigration policies undermine students’ college experiences and to identify actionable practices to advance greater equity and inclusion.

Laura E. Enriquez is Associate Professor of Chicano/Latino Studies and Associate Director of the Center for Liberation, Anti-racism, and Belonging (C-LAB) at The University of California, Irvine. She is the author of the award-winning book, Of Love and Papers: How Immigration Policy Affects Romance and Family.

Cecilia Ayón is Professor of Public Policy at The University of California, Riverside.

Jennifer R. Nájera is Professor of Ethnic Studies at The University of California, Riverside. She is the author of The Borderlands of Race: Mexican Segregation in a South Texas Town.

Annie Ro is Associate Professor of Health, Society, and Behavior at The University of California, Irvine.

Zulema Valdez is Professor of Sociology at The University of California, Merced. She is the author of The New Entrepreneurs: How Race, Class, and Gender Shape American Enterprise.