Lives in Limbo

Dr. Roberto Gonzales (assistant professor of education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education) discusses his book Lives in Limbo: Undocumented and Coming of Age in America, which chronicles his 12-year research study on 150 undocumented young adults in Los Angeles, California. ​Lives in Limbo​ is a vivid ethnography that explores why highly educated undocumented youth share similar work and life outcomes with their less-educated peers, despite the fact that higher education is touted as the path to integration and success in the United States. Gonzales explains the failures of a system that integrates children into K-12 schools but ultimately denies them the rewards of their labor.