Title: Activating agency and discretion: identifying factors affecting the interactions between unaccompanied migrant children and public servants

Authors: Jennica Larrison; Mariglynn Edlins

Addresses: School of Public and International Affairs, University of Baltimore, 1420 N. Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21201, USA ' School of Health and Human Services, University of Baltimore, 1420 N. Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21201, USA

Abstract: Unaccompanied migrant children in the USA are subject to the immigration policies of the USA, as well as to the individuals who implement immigration policies. The interactions between unaccompanied migrant children and those who implement immigration policy are particularly important, as they mediate unaccompanied migrant children's experience in the USA and their final outcome in the country. However, these interactions are hard to understand, primarily because of limited access to both children and public servants. In this paper, we use qualitative data to explore potential factors for these interactions during a six-month period in 2014. We identify six themes relevant to children's migration process and demonstrate how these themes can act as factors in these interactions through the ways that unaccompanied migrant children employ their agency and public servants use their discretion.

Keywords: migration; immigration policy; agency; discretion; unaccompanied children; street-level bureaucrats; unaccompanied minors; borders; interactions; public servants.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMBS.2017.086960

International Journal of Migration and Border Studies, 2017 Vol.3 No.4, pp.308 - 327

Received: 12 Dec 2015
Accepted: 30 Sep 2016
Published online: 03 Oct 2017 *

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