The Impact of Coloniality on DACA-Latinos' College Experiences

• In Event: Friday Roundtable Session 11:25 am
  In Roundtable Session: Racial Capitalism, Coloniality, and the State’s Colonial/Imperial Educational Projects (Table 2)

Abstract

This literature review critically examines DACA-Latinos' college experience, focusing on the limitations of the DACA program in addressing systemic inequities. By analyzing scholarly literature through a coloniality lens, this paper identifies three key factors of the DACA program that hinder Latinos' ability to graduate from college: 1) DACA’s liminal nature engenders uncertainty and anxiety within the capitalist system; 2) the program’s limitations disproportionately increase Latino’s financial vulnerability; and 3) DACA’s failure in intervening in the perpetuation of Western epistemology in college. While both DACA and the proposed DREAM Act represent progress in educational equity, this paper underscores the importance of a more radical change, such as comprehensive immigration reform, to dismantle the foundation of racial injustices imposed by immigration policies.

Authors

• Patricia Shimura Ambrosio, North Carolina State University

• Devan MacKenzie, North Carolina State University