Undocumented and Unafraid: Tam Tran and Cinthya Felix

Achieving the Dream, Uncertain Futures: The Postbaccalaureate Decision-Making Process of Latinx Undocumented Students

“…These findings overlap with existing research on the activism of undocumented students conducted by undocumented students themselves (Madera, 2008; The Students Informing Now Collective, 2017), researchers (Gonzales, 2008; Negrón-Gonzales, 2014, 2015; W. Perez et al, 2009), and community groups and organizations (Wong et al, 2012). Particularly at the high school and undergraduate level, researchers found that student leadership and civic engagement influenced their participation in school and their relationships with teachers, counselors, and peers (Gonzales, 2008).…”

Transformations of the undocumented youth movement and radical egalitarian citizenship

“…Over the last 15 years, the movement of undocumented youth emerged from a loose self-support network of undocumented students and a legislative campaign for the federal DREAM Act, which was mainly led by politicians and non-profit organizations at the beginning, and grew into an autonomous political movement led by the undocumented youth themselves (Nicholls 2013;Wong et al 2012). Although migrant youth played important roles in struggles against the criminalization of People of Color and anti-migrant laws such as Proposition 187 in previous decades (Gonzales 2014, 55), this movement was the first to organize 'undocumented people based on their struggles and based on their identities, ' as IYC organizer Jonathan Perez suggests.…”

“…This paper thus fundamentally draws on their experiences, insights and analyses. 1 Most of the academic work analyzing the undocumented youth movement focuses on student activism and organizing linked to the Dreamer narrative, which was established in the early stages of the movement (Abrego 2008;Corrunker 2012;de la Torre and Germano 2014;Eisema, Fiorito, and Montero-Sieburth 2014;Negrón-Gonzales 2014Nicholls 2013;Seif 2011;Truax 2015;Wong et al 2012). Building on and extending the scope of this literature and studies of earlier stages of the movement, I analyze more recent forms of organizing as contentious politics that challenge the previous exclusive focus on students, immigration reform, and citizenship status (Perez 2014;Unzueta Carrasco and Seif 2014).…”

A Transformative Mixed Methods Assessment of Educational Access and Opportunity for Undocumented College Students in the Southeastern United States

“…Many undocumented college students arrive in the United States as children, accompanied by parents seeking better lives for their families (Gonzales, 2009). They experience the bulk (if not all) of their primary and secondary education in American schools, and unsurprisingly, “their dominant language is English, they proclaim an American identity and they live an American life style” (Perez, 2009, p. 8; see also Wong et al, 2012). While conventionally American, most undocumented youth are operationally restricted from access to basic resources and institutions that are necessary for survival and success in U.S. society.…”