Sanchez, Linette. “Mobilized in the Margins: Political Engagement Among Children of Undocumented Parents (CUPs)” manuscript in preparation.
This project examines how adult children of undocumented parents (CUPs) of various racial and ethnic groups engage in politics. While traditional models of political participation would suggest that limited resources would reduce political participation, using the 2020 CMPS, I find that CUPs display higher levels of political activity and political efficacy than children of documented parents (CDPs). I hypothesize that political threats, acting as information brokers, higher levels of resilience, and heightened empathy shape CUPs’ participation compared to CDPs. These findings shed light on political socialization and civic engagement among marginalized populations.
Carlos, Roberto F., Melissa Baker, Álvaro Corral, Bryan Gervais, Matt Lamb, Tanika Raychaudhuri, and Linette Sanchez. “Reciprocal Political Socialization Within Contemporary American families: Evidence From Two Randomized Experiments” manuscript in preparation.
How does political learning operate within contemporary American families? While parents traditionally transmit political views to children, we investigate whether children can also influence their parents. Using a survey and a field experiment, we find that parents are more receptive to political information from their children than from other social contacts. In particular, children’s messages about emergent issues, like AI regulation, increased parental support and political action. These findings suggest that child-to-parent political influence occurs, especially on new or specialized policy areas.
Sanchez, Linette. “Navigating Precarity, Driving Change: Political Mobilization in the Lives of Children of Undocumented Parents” manuscript in preparation.
How does being a Latine children of undocumented parents shape ones’ political engagement? Based on 21 interviews with undergraduate and graduate students at the University of Texas at Austin, I find that Latine CUPs demonstrate higher political activity and efficacy than Latines with other connections to the undocumented community. The engagement of CUPs is driven by awareness of their parents’ sacrifices, resilience and empathy developed in households marked by exclusion, and experience as information and language brokers. While initially motivated by immigration concerns, CUPs’ political action extends to broader social justice issues, highlighting how growing up with undocumented parents fosters political awareness, agency, and commitment to justice-oriented engagement.
Linette Sanchez 