The Perils of Innocence: A History of Latinx Child Migrants in the United States

About the Event:

Ivón Padilla-Rodríguez is an assistant professor in the Department of History at the University of Illinois Chicago, specializing in the socio-legal history of child migration to the United States. She is the daughter of formerly undocumented Mexican immigrants, and her research in and outside of academia is rooted in her long-standing commitments to immigrant communities.

Padilla-Rodriguez is currently working on a book project based on her quadruple prize-winning doctoral dissertation. It exposes the long history of child migrants’ cruel reception in the U.S., as well as the resistance and organizing by migrants, their children, and local advocates. Her book manuscript draws on neglected archival records scattered across the U.S. and Mexico and oral histories to show how officials used law, policy, and the concept of “alienage” to distort migrant Mexican and Central American youth’s access to the rights associated with “modern” childhood.

Outside of academia, her writing, research, and expertise have appeared in a variety of national media outlets. She has also authored policy briefs on the migration of children and women for the federal government and non-profits in the U.S. and Mexico. Her previous research experiences inform her work as a co-coordinator of the Newberry Library’s Seminar in Borderlands and Latino/a Studies and a member of the Migration Scholar Collaborative.

Dr. Padilla-Rodríguez earned her Ph.D. in History from Columbia University. Her research has been generously supported by the National Academy of Education/Spencer Foundation, Ford Foundation, Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation, American Historical Association, American Society for Legal History, Immigration and Ethnic History Society, and the Society for the History of Children and Youth, among others.