“Lives in Limbo”: Youth Forum co-organises discussion on undocumented migrants

Earlier this week (16th March 2016), the Youth Forum co-organised a roundtable discussion with the Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants (PICUM) for the book launch of Lives in Limbo: Undocumented and Coming of Age by Roberto G. Gonzales. The discussion was predicated on the question, “What lessons can Europe draw from the USA?”

The book launch and discussion took place in the European Parliament in Brussels, and was hosted by MEPs Brando Benifei, Caterina Chinnici, the Parliament’s Youth Intergroup and the Children's Rights Intergroup. PICUM's director Michele LeVoy moderated the discussion.

The roundtable discussion was preceded by a presentation from author and Harvard professor Roberto G. Gonzales, who described the legal and social “limbo” of undocumented migrants who arrive in the United States as children, and how their undocumented status affects their lives. He said that undocumented status can become a “master status” as children transition into adulthood, in that it dictates every aspect of their lives- curtailing people’s ability to continue in education or enter the job market, for example.

Many of the participants in the subsequent discussion noted similarities between the American and European situation in this regard, with Hannah Rushton of the Prince’s Trust in the UK noting that many of the young people she works with identify as British, and do not even realise they are undocumented until they begin to face increased institutional barriers when they turn eighteen. Nadia Nguyen Quang of Réseau Éducation Sans Frontières highlighted that, in France, minors who are not living with a parent face much tougher legal barriers to naturalisation.

The event also featured an in-built mechanism for institutional response to the points raised by the discussion. Institutional perspectives were offered by participants such as Nathalie Griesbeck MEP and Margaret Tuite, the European Commission coordinator for the rights of the child. In her response to the discussion, Tuite emphasised that “all children have human rights”, and that the focus should be on states as duty bearers to uphold those rights.

Caterina Chinnici MEP with Michele LeVoy of PICUM