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The American dream is harder than it seems: odds are against immigrant kids

A study shows that the children of undocumented immigrants who move to the United States tend to follow the work lives of their parents. Despite many newly arrived immigrants wanting a better life for their children, research carried out by the University of Chicago’s Roberto G. Gonzales says that the children of immigrants tend to work in the same jobs a their parents: in construction, restaurants, and cleaning and childcare services.

Mr Gonzales conducted life history interviews with 150 mostly Mexican-origin undocumented young adults who had been brought to the U.S. before age 12. “This is a population of young people who, because of their legal integration through the school system, learned to work hard and pursue the American dream,” said Mr Gonzales, “but as they reach adulthood, they are cut off from the means through which to live the lives for which school prepared them.”

The study was funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Read more at American Sociological Association

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