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Abstract

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This article examines the ways in which citizenship status uniquely shapes both the access and persistence of undocumented community college students in the Central Valley of California. Drawing on more than 2 years of qualitative fieldwork, it is argued that undocumented community college students navigate an institutional landscape of “constrained inclusion,” characterized by a disconnect between the promise of inclusion embodied in recent legislation and the reality that citizenship status continues to encumber their educational experiences.

Keywords

undocumented students community college access persistence California higher education immigration

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Constrained Inclusion

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Keywords

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