Abstract

Comparison of the experiences of middle-class Peruvian immigrants in South Florida and working-class Peruvian immigrants in Santiago confirms that individuals negotiate the framework of legality differently according to social class. Although the middle-class Peruvians in South Florida were forced to live in what Susan Coutin has called "spaces of nonexistence" there, their interactions with other Peruvians similar to themselves allowed them to retain their middle-class identity regardless of their legal status. In contrast, the working-class Peruvians in Santiago, who lived precariously in both places, were forced to compete with each other for jobs and to rely on their employers for regularization of their status, and therefore they could not count on the solidarity of other immigrants like themselves to bolster their sense of belonging.