Navigating Life Post Graduation: Pathways of Undocumented College Students and Alumni

• In Event: 4265 - Latina/o Youth and Legal Liminality

Abstract

Previous literature on “illegality” looks at how immigration laws limit people’s opportunities for upward mobility. Building on this framework, the concept of liminal legality suggests that immigration policies, such as temporary work permits, put beneficiaries in an in-between status due to the fact that they are neither legal nor illegal. Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) effectively created a new form of liminal legality because DACA is not a protected permanent law. I explore the consequences of this liminal legal status for undocumented students using data collected from focus groups and interviews with 154 undocumented students from across the University of California system and 32 interviews with undocumented student alumni. This paper explores the question, how does immigration status and perceptions of illegality impact undocumented college students’ career plans and preparation? I find that undocumented students feel significant amounts of stress and anxiety when talking about their futures, many express no specific plans for achieving their career goals, and few have participated in career-preparation opportunities. Further, those who have graduated continue to face challenges in transitioning to their lives post graduation because of the timing of their graduation and whether it coincided with the passage of DACA. These gaps are even more drastic for those undocumented youth who do not qualify for DACA. I argue that undocumented students experience enduring consequences due to their immigration status but the severity of these consequences diverge according to work authorization.

Author

• Martha Arhemi Morales Hernandez, University of California-Irvine