"This Place ... Immigration Knocks on My Door": Examining Undocumented Youth Experiences in the South

• In Event: 69.057 - Roundtable Session 32
  In Roundtable Session: 69.057-5 - Interests, Desires, and Identities: Understanding Educational Policy and Practices Through Ideologies of Race and Racism

Abstract

An increase in unaccompanied and undocumented immigrant youth from Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala entering the U.S is occurring due to organized crime and poverty in Central America. The result of this influx of youth and their delayed integration into U.S. society raises new dilemmas in U.S. public schools, particularly in southern states where many are arriving for migrant farming. The current study builds upon the emerging area of research on undocumented youth experiences in K-12 schools (Gonzales, 2016), and how youth make sense of the racialized context in a southern state. Drawing on data from a two-year critical ethnography, the presentation highlights undocumented youth experiences of schooling, policy thinking, and social isolation in a constrained policy context.

Author

• Sophia Rodriguez, University of North Carolina - Greensboro