US immigration policy and its impact on immigrants: Reassembling the stories of deported mothers and their transnational children through the healing spirit of Coatlicue and Coyolxauhqui

Abstract

Mixed-status families comprise a growing and (in)visible group of communities on both sides of the US-Mexico border. According to data from the American Immigration Council, 5.9 million US citizen children live with an undocumented parent and are part of mixed-status families (family members with different legal status). It is also estimated that women constitute more than half of all immigrants who are part of the feminization of migration which is tied to the US capitalist economy’s historical and contemporary dependence on the labor of immigrant women and women of color, with Mexican immigrants comprising the majority of the undocumented immigrants in the USA. Consequently, US-born children are now at greater risk of having their parents/mothers/family members deported or moving back to Mexico because they fear permanent separation. While most research has focused on the experiences of undocumented immigrants in the USA, the chapter examines deportation narratives, how mothers adjust to life back in Mexico, and how they revalidated their legal status in Mexico for both themselves and their children to access educational and job opportunities. Once enrolled in the Mexican public school system, US-born children in this study struggled to feel a sense of belonging in a new education system. Many Mexican teachers lacked pedagogical resources and tools to address the academic, social, and emotional needs of their transnational students. In turn, the lack of support systems for students to develop their language skills in Spanish and limited access to mental health services had a great impact on their educational achievement. Drawing on in-depth interviews with three mothers and their US-born children, we challenge deficit ideologies and narratives of Mexican mothers through the symbols of Coatlicue and Coyolxauhqui. In doing so, their stories of deportation are reassembled to capture their voices as they struggle for their children’s right to an education. The chapter concludes with recommendations for binational immigration and education policies and practices that can begin to define what education-focused social justice claims should be made in transnational social spaces, particularly in light of a current political climate that creates split families and educational experiences as a result of inhumane immigration policies.