ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the experiences of 'quasi-legal' immigrants as they interact with individuals in three key areas of life that shape membership and long-term incorporation: work, health, and education. It focuses on how 'in-between' legal statuses are interpreted, enforced, and experienced on the ground within an expanded enforcement system and a multipronged system of immigration laws – federal, state, and local – as immigrants interact with 'street-level workers'. The experiences of immigrant workers who hold temporary statuses underscore the precarious nature of such statuses as they do not translate into protection from abuses. Immigrants in temporary legal statuses try to avoid the 'complications' of dealing with health care professionals who do not always understand these immigrants' legal statuses. The definition and interpretation of undocumented for the purposes of eligibility for higher education benefits is broad, as it includes immigrants who have received relief through Deferred Action for Children Arrivals.
