Investigating Constrained Inclusion: The Role of Immigration Status Disclosure in a Conservative Sociopolitical Environment Within the State of California

• In Event: Remaining Inclusive: Strategies Toward Building and Sustaining Inclusive Communities

Abstract

Despite California’s inclusive state policies regarding undocumented college students, those in the state’s Central Valley continue to experience misinformation and microagressions that impact their path to higher education. This qualitative work utilizes Negrón-Gonzalez’s (2017) concept of Constrained Inclusion to explore how immigration status disclosure mediates educational opportunity in a conservative socio political environment within the state of California. Exploring these disclosure strategies is vital to understanding the concept of constrained inclusion because they highlight the ongoing insecurity and threat students sense even in a state that has both the largest undocumented population as well as arguably the most inclusive college admissions policies (i.e. AB540, CA DREAM Act) in the US.

Authors

• Susana Hernandez, California State University - Fresno

• Luis Fernando Macias, California State University - Fresno

• Gabriela Encinas, California State University - Fresno