Exploring the Responsibilities of Street-Level Bureaucrats through the Perspectives of Unaccompanied Migrant Youth and Their Sponsors

ABSTRACT

Between 2014 and 2019, more than 300,000 unaccompanied youth arrived at U.S.-Mexico border. Responsible for the implementation of immigration policy, street-level bureaucrats regularly interact with many of these youth as they navigate the immigration system. In each of these interactions along a complicated immigration process, street-level bureaucrats have a range of responsibilities with the youth. This paper considers the potential impact of street-level bureaucrats’ interactions with unaccompanied minors through the questions: 1) How do unaccompanied minors and their sponsors experience interactions with street-level bureaucrats related to the unaccompanied minors’ migration process; and 2) How do these experiences overlap with the responsibilities of public servants who implement US immigration policy?

KEYWORDS:

• Migration
• street-level bureaucrats
• governance
• unaccompanied minors

Notes

1. Names have been changed.