Institutions, Policy, and Resilience: Educational Trajectories of Undocumented Students in Boston and North Carolina

• In Event: 032 - Section on Children and Youth Paper Session. Civic Participation among Minority and Immigrant Youth

Abstract

In 2012, implementation of DACA allowed for more than 1.5 million undocumented youth to become eligible for work authorization cards and social security numbers. While access to higher education became a realistic possibility for many undocumented youth in the U.S., prior to the implementation of DACA, a generation of students managed to navigate the college application process and enroll in institutions of higher education while undocumented. This paper focuses on this group’s experiences with immigration and educational policies at the federal, state, and institutional levels as undocumented students in North Carolina, a new immigrant destination, and in Boston, a traditional immigrant destination. In conducting in-depth interviews, with undocumented students, formerly undocumented students, and DACA beneficiaries, I address the following questions: How do immigration and educational policies at the federal, state, and institutional levels affect the educational trajectories of undocumented students? What role does local context play in undocumented students’ experiences with race, socioeconomic status, gender, and “illegality” in higher education? I identify three themes: In the absence of federal policies that address undocumented students’ access to higher education, state level policies were instrumental in excluding these students from institutions of higher education in both local contexts; at the institutional level varying admissions policies created an uncertain educational climate for undocumented students and DACA recipients; differences across local contexts were primarily salient in how undocumented students experienced illegality and how this influenced their educational trajectories. The findings in this paper reveal important implications for undocumented students’ civic, educational, and economic inclusion.

Author

• Alessandra Bazo Vienrich, University of Massachusetts Boston