“You Can Start Thinking About Making Something out of Your Life”: Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals as a Form of Basic Capital

• In Event: Roundtable Session 9
  In Roundtable Session: Research on Cultural and Linguistic Capital

Abstract

Based on Stuart White’s (2010) proposal of a basic capital, I propose framing Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), and further immigration reform for undocumented students in the K-16 system, as a basic capital that would ensure opportunities for students to form ambitions, expectations, and life aspirations. I use data from four interviews in which the participants discuss how changes in immigration policy afforded them the possibility of pursuing higher education and now to seek employment in their respective fields. This paper examines the ambitions, expectations, and life aspirations of a group of undocumented immigrant college graduates that applied for DACA, an executive order issued by President Barrack Obama on June 15, 2012.

Author

• Jose Garcia, University of Texas - Austin