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Of Love and Papers explores how immigration policies are fundamentally reshaping Latino families. Drawing on two waves of interviews with undocumented young adults, Dr. Laura Enriquez investigates how immigration status creeps into the most personal aspects of everyday life, intersecting with gender to constrain family formation. The imprint of illegality remains, even upon obtaining DACA or permanent residency.

Interweaving the perspectives of US citizen romantic partners and children, Enriquez illustrates the multigenerational punishment that limits the upward mobility of Latino families. Of Love and Papers sparks an intimate understanding of contemporary US immigration policies and their enduring consequences for immigrant families.

“By highlighting the ways U.S. immigration policies shape the experiences of romantic love, intimacy and family formation, Enriquez’s meticulous research calls attention to the enduring injurious effects on undocumented and DACAmented young adults, and on their citizen spouses and children.  An innovative and sobering account of the far-reaching consequences of our punishing immigration policies. Timely and compelling.”—Pierrette Hondagneu-Sotelo, Florence Everline Professor of Sociology, University of Southern California

Laura Enriquez is Associate Professor in the Chicano/Latino Studies Department at the University of California, Irvine. She has researched, presented, and published on a range of issues related to the educational, economic, political, and social experiences of undocumented young adults who immigrated to the United States as children. Putting her research into practice, she works directly with colleges and community organizations to help them better serve undocumented immigrants. Dr. Enriquez is faculty-in-residence at the UCI Dream Center, faculty chair of UCI’s Committee for Equity and Inclusion of Undocumented Students and serves as the faculty advisor for UCI’s Marco A. Firebaugh House, an on-campus housing community for undocumented students and allies.