Undocumented Students Throughout the Life Course
Over the last decade I have examined how Latinx undocumented college-hopefuls navigate access to college, and how a few of them successfully become college students. This research has led me to consider how the stage in the life course these students occupy shapes their dreams, goals, and decisions in relation to higher education. This study resulted in my first book manuscript (currently under contract) and below you can find publications from this project.
This article examines my experiences as a Latina DACA-benefited researcher conducting qualitative research with Latinx DACA-benefited college students. Drawing from an interview study across two states, I describe my actions and responses to three stages I experienced in the field: reflexive analysis of positionality, acknowledgement of shared identity, and coming out to participants. In discussing my experiences during interviews, I showcase instances in which I pushed boundaries to adopt a methodology of compassion and humanity necessary in research by, for, and with undocumented immigrants. I draw from W.E.B. Du Bois’s double consciousness to consider undocumented researchers’ compartmentalized identities and experiences in the field, and I use Gloria Anzaldúa’s mestiza consciousness to contest dichotomies around legal status, nationality, and belonging. I propose the adoption of flexible methodologies to disrupt existing rigidities in qualitative research in immigrant communities and static epistemologies produced in contexts where researchers hold legal privilege over their undocumented/liminally documented participants.
For undocumented students, the high school–to–college pipeline is filled with social, economic, and psychological stressors. Yet very little is known about the impact of legal status on the experiences of undocumented Latinx college students living in states without tuition equity policies. Using qualitative data from 37 interviews exploring undocumented college students’ educational trajectories in Massachusetts and North Carolina, the authors examine the impact of legal status on the emotional well-being of undocumented Latinx students, including those who benefited from Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. The findings show that even when undocumented students gain access to higher education, barriers to legal status generate chronic feelings of despair and hopelessness that persist throughout their educational trajectories. Additionally, the authors find that academic motivation and persistence do not always equate with emotional resilience. The authors propose strategies to help facilitate emotional well-being for undocumented students.
