This article examines the psychological and sociological impacts of the proposed Development, Relief, and education for Alien Minors (DReAM) Act and instate tuition legislation on DReAM-eligible students in the Midwestern United States. The researchers sought to capture the lived experiences of undocumented immigrant students through their rich interpretations of current immigration policy and how participants described their situation, their identity, and their dreams in relation to the volatility of their external environment.Resumen: este manuscrito examina el impacto psicológico y sociológico del propuesto Acto de Desarrollo, Asistencia, y educación para Menores extranjeros (DReAM) y la ley de educación para residentes estatales sobre estudiantes elegibles del DReAM en el medio-oeste de los estados Unidos de América. Los investigadores buscaron capturar las experiencias vividas por estudiantes inmigrados sin documentos a través de interpretaciones ricas de la política actual de inmigración y cómo los participantes describieron sus situaciones, su identidad, y sus sueños y la relación de ellos con la volatilidad de su ambiente externo.

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Recent initiatives such as Proposition 227, the Unz Initiative, demonstrate the implications of referenda and other sociocultural and sociopolitical threats to the appropriate education of culturally and linguistically diverse students. Such initiatives often capitalize upon the politicization of the ESL/bilingual education environment in order to threaten quality programming and equitable education for all students. These trends call for a greater emphasis in the professional development and practice of educators toward capacity building for student, family, and program advocacy. This article explores the potential contribution of current educational and related literature in the development of an initial framework for such advocacy.In this article, we describe the power of referenda and other political agendas in the sociocultural community of the school system to impact and, in some cases, dictate educational policy, school administration, and daily instruction in the public school classroom. Recent trends in such political interventions strongly suggest the need for student, family, and program advocacy among teachers and their administrators, especially among educators who serve the needs of culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) students. This article explores the potential contribution of current educational and related literature to a framework for strengthening such advocacy.

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