Tied to the Dream of Being Adopted by a Country Not Your Own: How Young Migrants Define “Dreamer”

Abstract

This article discusses who the Dreamers are from the viewpoint of young migrants residing in Mexico and the United States. It is based on a Surveymonkey poll among young migrants re-siding in Mexico and members of eight groups of Dreamers and DACA recipients on Facebook inthe United States between May and August 2018. The author develops three hypotheses from her analysis of the answers. First, contrary to what was expected, these young people do not homogenously take on the mantle of Dreamers, nor do they define the concept in the same way. Second, the idea of “Dreamers” involves a sense of belonging to the United States, regard-less of their place of residence, which means that the idea of technically belonging to Mexico overlaps with the feeling of belonging derived from having been socialized in the United States. The third hypothesis is that young migrants, whether in the United States or in Mexico, appropriate or reject the concept due to the points of reference and mental maps they construct, regardless of the legal definitions set out in the DREAM Act or DACA, creating communities of be-longing that include both countries.