The Voices of Filipinos “Out of Status”: Students Defining an Undocumented Student-Receptive Culture

• In Event: Practicing Social Justice in Our Own Communities: Serving Filipina/o American Students

Abstract

Objective
In this paper, I will share the stories of some Filipinos “out of status,” their struggles being undocumented, and their fight for an undocumented student receptive culture. There are over 11 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S. and more than 1.2 million are from Asian or Pacific Islander (API) backgrounds (Hoefer, Rytina & Baker, 2012). Undocumented APIs are a minority within a minority and there is little research on their experiences (Buenavista, 2013; Chan, 2010). Yet, undocumented immigration has long impacted API communities, particularly Filipinos (Montoya, 1997; Ngai, 2004). There are more than 280,000 undocumented Filipinos in the U.S., the second largest undocumented API ethnic group (Hoefer, Rytina & Baker, 2012).

Theory and Methods/ Data Source
Through the application of Critical Race Theory (CRT), I highlight the ways in which undocumented Filipino youth face educational barriers defined by the intersection of their poor socioeconomic status, undocumented status, and racialization as Asian American. CRT in education posits that the contemporary struggles of students of color must be historically situated and in context of white supremacy (Ladson-Billings & Tate, 1995; Solórzano, 1997). More specifically, I use narrative data gathered from interviews with 10 undocumented Filipino youth regarding their educational pathways. Based on their voices, I show how Filipinos are subject to undocumented status at high rates, and argue that their liminal position in the U.S. and in schools must be understood in context of a historical colonial relationship between the U.S. and the Philippines, and the “labor brokering” (Rodriguez, 2010) practices between the nation-states.

Findings and Significance
Due to legal constraints related to work, undocumented Filipinos are subject to poverty, which severely impacts their ability to access quality K-12 schooling, higher education, healthcare, and social services intended to mediate challenges associated with low-income status. The intersection between poverty and lack of legal status also constrains undocumented Filipino students and families to live in areas with higher rates of policing and potential threats of deportation. Such stressors, in addition to the lack of financial aid, are detrimental to the college access and retention of undocumented Filipino students, and are exacerbated by their racialization.

The criminalization of undocumented immigrants has conditioned a practice of “non-disclosure” in which undocumented Filipino students do not reveal their status to avoid detection and deportation risks. However, this protective practice only perpetuates racial stereotypes of undocumented Filipino students as ashamed of their status, academically sufficient, and disinterested and/ or not in need of educational support services. The misconception that Filipino students do not face challenges in higher education represents and facilitates microaggressions directed towards those with undocumented status, including marginalization from programs and services designed to ameliorate their issues. Further, I also use Filipino perspectives to define an undocumented student receptive culture within schools and higher education that fully addresses the diversity of this group. Thus, the contribution of this paper is to share undocumented Filipino voices, as well as offer student-initiated solutions that educators can consider in their attempts to serve these students.

Author

• Tracy Lachica Buenavista, California State University - Northridge