Children's Legal Rights Journal - Spring 2013

The Social Agency of Migrant Youth
his review of migrant illegality, “the intricate history of law-making
is distinguished above all by the constitutive restlessness and relative
incoherence of various strategies, tactics, and compromises that
nation-states implement at particular historical moments, precisely to
mediate the contradictions imminent in social crises and political
struggles . . . .” 151 In this vein, the policies and practices that govern
the social and legal lives of unaccompanied children do not stem
from a coherent and singular legal code, but involve a constellation
of anxieties and interests that have emerged over time and space. The
1997 Flores Settlement Agreement is a revealing historical moment
in the legal lives of unaccompanied children that incorporates
multiple, and at times diverging, interests within the care and custody
of unauthorized children in the United States. 152

151 Id. at 425.
152 Stipulated Settlement Agreement, Flores v. Reno, No. CV-85-4544-RJK(Px)
(C.D. Cal. Jan. 17, 1997) [hereinafter Flores Stipulated Settlement Agreement],
http://www.aclu.org/pdfs/immigrants/flores_v_meese_agreement.pdf.
153 Reno v. Flores, 507 U.S. 292, 292 (1993).
154 Id. at 296.
155 Id. at 292.
156 Parens patriae, “literally ‘parent of the country,’ refers traditionally to the role
of state as sovereign and guardian of persons under legal disability, such as
juveniles or the insane, and in child custody determinations, when acting on behalf

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