Growing up undocumented

Abstract This chapter presents the life stories of undocumented youth activists in Chicago, illuminating how lived experiences of illegality provided key turning points shaping their political engagement. Drawing on in-depth interviews and ethnographic observation, it traces the trajectories of undocumented youth activists from early childhood arrival to the United States through adolescence and into activism. The chapter discusses the embodied, discursive, and emotional understandings that characterize undocumented life as a young adult in the United States. Embodied experiences like crossing the border, settling in, or getting around in the city affect how undocumented youth perceive their mobility and immobility. The narratives reveal how they gradually discover undocumented status during key life transitions such as applying for driver’s licenses, college admission, or employment. Bureaucratic labeling adds to the stigma that undocumented youth experience in interactions with institutions. These moments of exclusion generate feelings of fear, anger, and isolation that become catalysts for political involvement. Adopting a hermeneutic lens thus allows us to not only grasp the vantage point of undocumented youth but also why and how they venture into activism.