Dean Luis H. Zayas’s book, Forgotten Citizens. Deportation, Children, and the Making of American Exiles and Orphans, is one of the four finalists for the Robert W. Hamilton Book Author Awards Program from The University of Texas at Austin and The University Co-operative Society.
These awards are made to faculty or staff members who, in the preceding calendar year, published the best book-length publications as determined by a multi-disciplinary committee of scholars appointed by the university’s vice president for research.
Forgotten Citizens received the 2016 Book Award Honorable mention by the Society for Social Work and Research book award committee. The book presents the plight of U.S.-born children of undocumented immigrants, who do not fully enjoy the benefits of citizenship or the feeling that they belong. They live under the constant threat that their parents will suddenly be deported. Zayas draws on his extensive work as a mental health clinician and researcher to present the most complete picture yet of how immigration policy subvert children’s rights, harms their mental health, and leaves lasting psychological trauma. Read more.