This project explores the unpaid family work performed by children of immigrants and how it shapes their transition to adulthood.

Book project in progress.

Selected publications:

Delgado, Vanessa. 2024. “Stratified Private Safety Nets: How Legal Status Shapes Financial Contributions by Immigrant-Origin Young Adults” Social Problems (online first)

Delgado, Vanessa. 2023. “Decoding the Hidden Curriculum: Latino/a First Generation College  Students’ Influence on their Younger Siblings Educational Trajectory” Journal of Latinos and Education 22 (2), 624-641.

Delgado, Vanessa. 2022. “Leveraging Protections, Navigating Punishments: How Adult Children of Undocumented Immigrants Mediate Illegality in Latinx Families” Journal of Marriage and Family 83 (5), 1427-1445.

Delgado, Vanessa. 2020. “They think I’m a Lawyer:” Undocumented College Students as Legal Brokers. Law & Policy. 42 (3), 261-283.

Delgado, Vanessa. 2020. Children of immigrants as “brokers” in an era of exclusion. Sociology Compass, 14 (10), 1-11

This project examines how Latina immigrant mothers in Los Angeles navigate incorporation barriers during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Selected publications:

Delgado, Vanessa. 2024. “Motherhood, Legal Status, and COVID-19: How Immigration Policies  Shaped the Pandemic Experiences of Latina Immigrant Mothers” in Immigration Policy and Immigrant Families. Eds, Jennifer Van Hook, Valarie King, Shedra Amy Snipes

Delgado, Vanessa. 2023. “Civic Engagement and Latina Immigrant Mothers’ Remote Learning Involvement During COVID-19” Sociological Forum 38 (1), 192-213.

This new project will uncover the growing old experiences of Latino/a immigrants in rural America.