From Awareness to Action: Educators in Solidarity with Undocumented Communities

Session Type: Symposium

Abstract

This invited Division K VP Session brings together four scholars whose research centers undocumented youth and the educators who support them. Drawing on studies of legal exclusion, racial battle fatigue, sociopolitical awareness, and transformative praxis, panelists explore how educators can move beyond symbolic gestures to enact meaningful allyship. Their work highlights the psychological toll of immigration status, the importance of local contexts and school agents, and the need to challenge dominant narratives that marginalize undocumented students. Through examples of strategic empathy, acompañamiento, and community-based inquiry, the panel offers insights into how educators can foster affirming, justice-oriented spaces. Participants will gain tools to support undocumented students as agents of change, while reimagining schools as sites of resistance, care, and collective transformation.

Sub Unit

• Division K - Teaching and Teacher Education

Chair

• Christian A. Bracho, California State University - Long Beach

Papers

• Navigating Legal Violence: How Educators Support Undocumented Students Across Local Contexts - Daysi X. Diaz-Strong, University of Illinois at Chicago

• "They took my mom to a detention center...": Latinx teachers at the intersection of their families and their student's lives - Timothy Monreal, University at Buffalo - SUNY

• Educating in the Shadow of Illegality: Care, Courage, and Collective Transformation with Undocumented Students - Blanca Elizabeth Vega, Montclair State University

• A Restorative Circle for Educators: Processing Youth Protesting ICE Abductions, Racial Profiling, & Violence - Oscar Navarro, California State University - Long Beach

Discussant

• Arturo Anaya Servin, University of San Diego