In the same week that California opened up some financial aid for illegal immigrants, a new report finds that many college graduates who entered the country illegally ended up with the same low-skill jobs as their parents, despite dreams of bettering their lives.
The study, “Learning to be Illegal,” appears in the August edition of the American Sociological Review. The report’s author, Roberto G. Gonzales, interviewed 150 undocumented Latino adults ages 20 to 34 in Southern California over more than four years. All of his subjects immigrated to the U.S. before age 12.
Among the most striking conclusions: None of the 31 students Gonzales interviewed who had graduated from four-year universities or held advanced degrees were able to pursue their dream careers. Most are doing some kind of low-wage work.
