Dr. Daniel Goldstein (Rutgers University) will study how and why Latino migrants use the U.S. legal system to prosecute workplace disputes. Focusing on several study communities in central New Jersey, the research considers the ways in which migrants who claim to have suffered from mistreatment or injury in the workplace become active users of the law and the U.S. justice system. The project asks how Latino migrants seek the help of lawyers and non-profit legal advocacy groups; educate themselves about the law and appeal to its protections; enter the court system and argue their cases; and articulate rights claims. The project also studies the role that legal-aid organizations play in facilitating migrants' understandings of and access to the legal system.
The research uses an ethnographic research methodology, employing a research team that includes trained local research assistants. Through participant-observation followed by semi-structured individual and focus group interviewing, the team will study the vulnerabilities and behaviors of migrants who have suffered workplace abuses. Additionally, through volunteer work in a local migrant legal-aid organization, the research team will study how these organizations facilitate migrants encounters with the legal system.
The proposed research is very timely and important given the current fluidity in the U.S. around immigration issues, with Latino migrants potentially emerging into a new era of visibility, advocacy, and action in this country. The research will shed new light on the realities facing migrants in the U.S. with a special focus on workplace problems, and the legal remedies migrants pursue in response. By training and deploying a team of community-based researchers, this project will build capacity in local migrant communities, preparing people for future educational opportunities and employment in social science research.
