Becoming the “Mystical Unicorn”: Understanding the Racialized Illegality Experiences of Undocumented Asian College Students in California (Poster 20)

• In Event: AERA Promising Scholarship in Education Research: Dissertation Fellows and Their Research
  In Invited Poster Session: AERA Promising Scholarship in Education Research: Dissertation Fellows and Their Research Poster Session

Abstract

My dissertation examines how race and immigration shape the experiences of undocumented Asian students and the role of higher education in complicating their belonging. Using multi-site critical ethnography and 100 in-depth interviews with 66 undocuAsian students, it explores how they navigate, make sense of, and challenge the meanings of being Asian and undocumented, and the conundrum campuses face in negotiating race, immigration, and deservingness. Findings reveal how institutions perpetuate invisibility while also serving as spaces for resistance and belonging, with factors like ethnicity, migration age, geographic location, religion, gender, sexuality, and undocu-serving capacities shaping undocuAsians' legal vulnerabilities and college navigation. This study offers critical insights and practical strategies to protect immigrant student success amid the impending Trump administration.

Author

• Siyue Lena Wang, University of California - Los Angeles