Migration and the “American dream”: Undocumented Brazilian transnational mothers from Eastern Minas Gerais in the United States
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.54871/cl4c10asKeywords:
transnational mothers, East of Minas Gerais, undocumented, American dream, migrationAbstract
This article examines the “American dream” of undocumented Brazilian mothers from the Eastern region of Minas Gerais who practice transnational motherhood in the United States. Based on 15 semi-structured interviews (2020), the study explores their migration trajectories, motivations, and specific challenges related to gender and legal status. The findings indicate that the meaning of the “American dream” varies according to each woman’s circumstances but is generally linked to better living conditions for their children and the acquisition of material goods. Although many attain economic stability, they often face labour precarity, emotional isolation, and limited access to basic rights, rendering the dream an ambivalent experience.
Downloads
References
Adams, James (1931). The epic of America. Boston: Little, Brown and Company.
Almeida, Erika y Siqueira, Suely (2010). A influência da emigração internacional na vida escolar dos filhos de emigrantes valadarenses. XIV Seminário sobre a Economia Mineira, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, 1-17. https://ideas.repec.org/h/cdp/diam10/027.html
Assis, Gláucia (2002). Estar aqui, estar lá... uma cartografia da vida entre o Brasil e os Estados Unidos. Núcleo de Estudos de População/UNICAMP. www.nepo.unicamp.br/publicacoes/textos_nepo/textos_nepo_41.pdf
Assis, Gláucia y Siqueira, Sueli (2009). Mulheres emigrantes e a configuração de redes sociais: construindo conexões entre o Brasil e os Estados Unidos. Revista Interdisciplinar de Mobilidade Humana - REMHU, 17(32), 25-46. https://remhu.csem.org.br/index.php/remhu/article/view/143/135
Boehm, Deborah (2012). Intimate Migrations: gender, family and illegality among transnational Mexicans. Nueva York: New York University Press.
Carballo, Alfredo (2019). The American dream in a transnational migratory circuit. European Review of Latin American and Caribbean Studies, (118), 22-41. 10.32992/erlacs.10461
Chomsky, Noam (2017). Requiem for the American dream: the principles of concentrated wealth and power. Nueva York: Seven Stories Press.
Churchwell, Sarah (2018). Behold, America: the entangled history of “America first” and “the American dream”. Londres: Bloomsbury Publishing.
Collins, Patricia (1994). Shifting the center: race, class and feminist theorizing about motherhood. En Gleen, Evelyn; Chang, Grace y Forcey, Linda (ed.), Mothering: ideology, experience, and agency (pp. 45-66). Nueva York: Routledge.
Cornelius, Wayne (1982). Interviewing undocumented immigrants: methodological reflections based on fieldwork in Mexico and the U. S. The International Migration Review, 16 (2), 378-411. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F019791838201600206
Corrêa, Fábio. (2025, 18 de febrero). Os brasileiros que tentaram asilo e acabaram deportados por Trump: 'Só conheci os EUA de dentro da prisão'. BBC News Brasil. https://www.bbc.com/portuguese/articles/cx2kz0878j9o
Cullen, Jim (2003). The American dream: a short history of an idea that shaped a nation. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Fazito, Dimitri y Soares, Weber (2013) The industry of illegal migration: social network analysis of the Brazil-US migration system. International Migration, 53 (6), 183-204. https://doi.org/10.1111/imig.12034
Francisco, Elton (2016). Famílias transnacionais de origem mineira: trajetórias, experiências e estratégias de vidas que cruzam fronteiras nacionais (1984-2014) (Tesis de doctorado). Universidad Federal de Santa Catarina, Florianópolis. https://repositorio.ufsc.br/xmlui/bitstream/handle/123456789/173050/343704.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
Glick-Schiller, Nina; Basch, Linda y Blanc-Szanton, Cristina (1992). Transnationalism: a new analytic framework for understanding migration. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 645(6), 1-24. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1749-6632.1992.tb33484.x
Guimarães, Ligia. (2020, 09 de febrero). ‘Aqui não é sua casa’: os relatos dos brasileiros detidos e deportados dos Estados Unidos. BBC News Brasil. https://www.bbc.com/portuguese/brasil-51431135
Hondagneu-Sotelo, Pierrette (org.). (2003). Gender and immigration: a retrospective and introduction. En Gender and U.S. immigration: Contemporary trends (pp. 3-19). Berkeley: University of California Press.
Hondagneu-Sotelo, Pierrette y Avila, Ernestine (1997). “I’m here, but I’m there”: the meanings of transnational motherhood. Gender and Society, 11(05), 548-571. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F089124397011005003
Justice for Immigrants (2019). “Catch and Release”: frequently asked questions. Washington, DC. https://justiceforimmigrants.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/FAQ-Catch-and-release-revised-12_14_18.pdf
Kramer, Stephanie y Passel, Jeffrey (2025). What the data says about immigrants in the U.S.
(PRC). Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2025/08/21/key-findings-about-us-immigrants/
Margolis, Maxine (1994). Little Brazil: imigrantes brasileiros em Nova York. Campinas: Papirus.
Michaelis. (s.d.). Saudade. En Michaelis: moderno dicionário da língua portuguesa. Melhoramentos. https://michaelis.uol.com.br/moderno-portugues/busca/portugues-brasileiro/saudade/
Migration Data Portal (2025). Immigration & emigration statistics. Women and girls on the move. Migration Data Portal. https://www.migrationdataportal.org/themes/women-girls-migration#:~:text=Back%20to%20top-,Female%20migrants,52%25)%20(ibid
Migration Policy Institute (2025). Frequently requested statistics on immigrants and immigration in the United States. Washington. Migration Policy Institute. https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/frequently-requested-statistics-immigrants-and-immigration-united-states
Norton, Ricardo (2011). Beyond the American dream: tales of Hispanic multimillionaires who rose above poverty after immigrating to the United States (Tesis de doctorado). Andrews University, Michigan. https://digitalcommons.andrews.edu/dissertations/605
Paré, Guy y Kitsiou, Spyros (2016). Methods for literature review. En Lau, Francis y Kuziemsky, Craig (orgs.), Handbook of eHealth evaluation: an evidence-based approach (pp. 157-179). University of Victoria. https://dspace.library.uvic.ca/bitstream/handle/1828/7814/Lau_Francis_Handbook%20of%20eHealth%20Evaluation_REV%20Oct2017.pdf?sequence=67&isAllowed=y
Parreñas, Rhacel (2005). Children of global migration: transnational families and gendered woes. Redwood City: Stanford University Press.
Pileggi, Mary; Grabe, Maria Elizabeth; Holderman, Lisa y De Montigny, Michelle (2000). Business as usual: the American dream in Hollywood business films. Mass Communication & Society, 3 (2-3), 207-228. https://doi.org/10.1207/S15327825MCS0323_03
Portes, Alejandro; Guarnizo, Luis y Landolt, Patricia (1999). The study of transnationalism: pitfalls and promise of an emergent research field. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 22(2), 217-237. https://doi.org/10.1080/014198799329468
Portes, Alejandro y Rumbaut, Rubén (2006). Immigrant America: a portrait. California: University of California Press.
Ruddick, Sara (1989). Maternal thinking: toward a politics of peace. Boston: Beacon.
Sadigzade, Zarifa (2025). Rethinking life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness: the modern American Dream. Acta Globalis Humanitatis et Linguarum, 2 (1), 15-19. https://doi.org/10.69760/aghel.02500103
Schmaulzbauer, Leah (2005). Transamerican dreamers: the relationship of Honduran transmigrants to the ideology of the American dream and consumer society. Berkeley Journal of Sociology, 49, 3-31. https://www.jstor.org/stable/41035600?seq=1
Silva, Adélia (2024). Beyond the American dream: unveiling the complexity of young people’s (im)mobility in Governador Valadares, Brazil. Mobilities, 20 (1), 175–192. https://doi.org/10.1080/17450101.2024.2393333
Siqueira, Sueli (2008). Migración y las distintas formas de retorno al suelo natal: una perspectiva transnacional. Simposio internacional sobre nuevos retos del transnacionalismo en el estudio de las migraciones, Barcelona. https://docsgedime.files.wordpress.com/2008/02/tc-sueli-siqueira.pdf
Siqueira, Sueli (2006). Migrantes e empreendedorismo na microrregião de Governador Valadares sonhos e frustrações no retorno (Tesis de doctorado). Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte. https://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/migranteseempreendedorismonamicrorregiodegovernadorvaladares/2029582
Stoll, David (2009). Which American dream do you mean?. Society, 46, 398-402. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12115-009-9245-2
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Jessica Monteiro Clementino da Silva
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
