Journal of Latino/Latin American Studies 2016, 8(1), 5-21 Illegality as a Source of Solidarity and Tension in Latino Families Leisy J. Abrego University of California, Los Angeles Despite the common assumption that immigration laws target only undocumented immigrants, “illegality” intimately and deeply impacts a larger proportion of immigrants and Latinos. Based on in-depth interviews and participant observation with documented and undocumented Latino immigrants from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Mexico in Los Angeles over a 10-year period (2001–2010), this article examines how illegality encompasses all members of a family, even when only one person or a few people are categorized as undocumented or only temporarily protected. Illegality can create tension for people whose disadvantages are heightened by structural limitations related to immigration laws. From children’s sense of abandonment by parents, to siblings’ heightened rivalries, and resentments between spouses, illegality shapes families’ interactions and well-being. On the other hand, with extensive social networks and in a social context that provides some a sense of safety, families can try to reframe illegality to experience it as a source of solidarity and strength, even when it increases barriers and burdens. Keywords: Illegality, Immigrant families, Solidarity, Mixed-status families, Transnational families I 1 had known 19-year-old Mayra to be a confident, articulate young woman; she was thoughtful and warm in her demeanor, particularly during one-on-one conversations when her shyness usually dissipated. i It was surprising, therefore, to witness her sudden fidgeting and eye contact avoidance when we discussed her mother during the interview. Although Mayra was born in the United States and is, as a result, a U.S. citizen, the issue of immigrant legal status (as conferred upon individual migrants through U.S. immigration laws) made her nervous; her mother is an undocumented immigrant from Guatemala. As she explained: Leisy Abrego is an assistant professor in the César E. Chávez Department of Chicana and Chicano Studies at the University of California—Los Angeles. Her expertise is in the areas of families, Central American migration, and lived experiences of immigration policies. Her first book, Sacrificing Families: Navigating Laws, Labor, and Love Across Borders (Stanford University Press) is about immigrants’ and their families’ economic and emotional well-being in the United States and El Salvador, as shaped by gender and U.S. immigration policies. She has also written award- winning articles about the social, educational, and political incorporation of undocumented immigrants Email: abrego@ucla.edu Talking about my mom is hard. It’s like there’s this whole cloud of, like, a whole heaviness [motions as though she is carrying weight on her shoulders and above her head], I don’t know, of things that I was never allowed to say out loud. If she was ever late, if she wasn’t back from church or from work right on time, we all worried….Nobody said anything, but we were all thinking it: what if she got caught?...That weight, it’s just fear, I guess…it really sucks to grow up like that. The deeply divisive and largely misinformed U.S. national debate about undocumented immigrants and immigration laws often masks the great complexity and diversity of legal statuses and their repercussions for Latino immigrants and their families. The discourse suggests that the exclusion and deportability associated with undocumented status affects only the 11.2 million undocumented immigrants in the country (Passel & Cohn, 2011). As the record-breaking number of deportations continues to make news, break families apart, and keep immigrants and their loved ones in