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This section highlights qualitative research exploring factors that undocumented students identified as significant influences on their educational trajectories and success.
About Campus, October 3, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1177/10864822231195833.
Students ... who are the first in their families to attend college and have Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) status, question whether they will be welcomed, accepted, and safe in their relationships and on campus. Setting the stage for this paper, we provide definitional overviews of DACA, first-generation to college status, and Latinx as foundational information for working with and mentorship. Next, we present the theoretical model and discussion of experiences of many Latinx first-generation college undocumented/DACAmented students’ sense of belonging in higher education. We end with implications and recommendations for university personnel.
Journal of Hispanic Higher Education, vol. 16, no. 2, Apr. 2017, pp. 144–61.
Semistructured interviews with former or current undocumented students suggest that factors such as mentors, individual resiliency, and the ganas to succeed affect students’ navigation strategies in higher education. Interviewees suggest solutions to institutional barriers that mitigate the negative effects of immigration status.
Journal of College Student Development, vol. 57, no. 6, Sept. 2016, pp. 715–29.
This article examines the many processes through which undocumented students "come out" within the context of higher education and beyond. Based on interviews with 7 Latin@ undocumented college students and graduates, this research explores 3 themes: biographical construction of legal status, the fluidity of fear, and empowered disclosure.
Journal of First-Generation Student Success 2, no. 3 (September 2, 2022): 143–60.
Research examining the educational experiences of first-generation undocu/DACAmented Black students has been largely absent despite their presence on college campuses. Universities are spaces that perpetuate epistemic injustice, yet how epistemic injustice impacts the lives of undocumented Black students is unexamined. This qualitative study explores how higher education faculty, staff, and administrators render undocumented Black students invisible as narrated through their stories.
Journal of Student Affairs Research and Practice 57, no. 4 (August 7, 2020): 457–69.
This phenomenological study examined the lived experiences of eight undocumented students who successfully studied abroad between 2012 and 2016. In-depth interviews of students at a public research university in California articulate the determination, resourcefulness, and unspoken fears that undocumented students carried with them throughout the higher education experience.
Journal of Latinos and Education, vol. 20, no. 3, July 2021, pp. 276–89.
Using survey data collected from 1,277 undocumented undergraduate students attending California 4-year public universities, this article examines the extent to which legal vulnerability, campus climate, and resource use are associated with positive and negative academic engagement.
Harvard Educational Review, vol. 91, no. 1, Spring 2021, pp. 83-108,151.
Diaz-Strong draws on interviews with Mexican and Central American 1.25 generation undocumented young adults to examine what shaped their access to financial resources in their college-going transitions.
Journal of College Access, vol. 6, no. 2, Sept. 2021, pp. 65–79.
Rivera, Claudio S., et al. “The Structural Violence of DACA and Youth Resistance.”
Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, Apr. 2022.
Freeman, Rachel E., and Carolina Valdivia. “Education Equity for Undocumented Graduate Students and the Key Role of My Undocumented Life.”
Journal of College Access, vol. 6, no. 2, Sept. 2021, pp. 80–93, https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1315717.
In this article, we reflect on what we have learned working with undocumented students in graduate school through our work with My Undocumented Life (MUL), a website with almost two million views that provides up to date information and resources for undocumented immigrants. We discuss the challenges that undocumented students face in pursuing graduate school, such as charting pathways to graduate school in isolation, seeking information specific to undocumented students, decisions around whether to disclose one's immigration status, and lack of financial aid opportunities.
Torres-Olave, Blanca M., et al. “Fuera de Lugar: Undocumented Students, Dislocation, and the Search for Belonging.”
Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, vol. 14, no. 3, 2021, pp. 418–28, https://doi.org/10.1037/dhe0000182.
This article presents findings from a Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) study on the experiences of six undocumented college students at a community college in the Midwest United States. We focused on two main research questions: What are some of the key developmental experiences of undocumented youth? What is the impact of these experiences on the students’ identity and sense of belonging in educational spaces, especially as they transition to college?
Salazar, Cinthya. “Participatory Action Research with and for Undocumented College Students: Ethical Challenges and Methodological Opportunities.”
Qualitative Research, vol. 22, no. 3, June 2022, pp. 369–86.
In this article, the author examines the ethical challenges and methodological opportunities of conducting a PAR study with and for undocumented college students. In particular, the author discusses the ethical tensions she considered in relation to the principles of respect, beneficence, and justice when conducting a qualitative PAR study with students without documentation as co-researchers.