Can Universities Counteract Immigrant Illegality? Examining the Impact of University-Based Institutional Support on Undocumented College Students

Abstract

Research has established that federal-, state-, and local-level policies affect undocumented immigrants’ experiences in the United States. Some of this work suggests that university-level policies can affect the experiences of undocumented students, but the mechanisms underlying this association remain unclear. Drawing on 55 in-depth interviews with undocumented college students in southern California, the author finds that university-level policies designed to help undocumented students create networks of support that provide resources and opportunities to students who face immigration status–related issues on college campuses. Findings demonstrate that the implementation of targeted programming and services can help undocumented students feel more supported on their campus; however, even in the presence of support and resources, a restrictive federal climate continues to negatively affect the everyday lives of these students. This study contributes to current scholarly and public discourse on how universities can intervene in federal exclusionary immigrant legislation.

Once I came here [to the University of California, Beachside], I remember talking to Nancy. She’s like, “Oh, we have a program. It’s called Dreamers Student Success. You should apply!” I’m like, “Yes, perfect.” I also went to a social and everyone was just so outspoken [about their status]. I couldn’t believe it, I was like, “What is this?” Wow, this is neat. Like people are taking pride [in their legal status].

Allie, ¹ a student at the University of California, Beachside

Allie is one of the 10.5 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States and part of the 2.3 million 1.5-generation undocumented young adults who entered the United States before the age of 16 (Gelatt 2019; Krogstad et al. 2019). During Welcome Week at the University of California, Beachside (UC Beachside), she came across a booth with a banner reading “Dreamers Welcome.” ² There she met Nancy, a staff coordinator for undocumented students at UC Beachside. Nancy connected Allie to the various resources on campus available for undocumented students, serving as an empowerment agent and an institutional gatekeeper (Stanton-Salazar 1997, 2011). Allie became immersed in UC Beachside’s extensive network of other undocumented students and allied staff and faculty members dedicated to the educational equity of undocumented students. This network included student activists, targeted programming, dedicated mentors, “know your rights” workshops, and a centralized resource center.

In this article I examine how university-based institutional support influences undocumented college students’ educational experiences. I draw on two sets of interview data with 55 undocumented college students. The data suggest that university-level policies designed to help undocumented students create networks of support that provide resources and opportunities to students who face immigration status–related issues on college campuses. These networks of support allow undocumented students to learn and decode immigrant legislation, create a sense of belonging and build community, and share resources with loved ones who do not attend their college campus. However, despite the utility of this on-campus support, I find that undocumented students still report concern about the safety of their undocumented parents, fears about the possible rescindment of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA), and anxiety about their futures. The case study of university-based institutional support at UC Beachside demonstrates how state and institutional policies work together to help undocumented students feel more supported on their campus, but these relief efforts do not offset the federal restrictive immigration policies that continues to negatively pervade the lives of undocumented students and their families.

I begin this article with scholarship that highlights the barriers undocumented youth face in the United States and how these barriers vary on the basis of what states they live in. I then move on to the conceptual framework, nested contexts of reception, to contextualize how California’s college access policies and the University of California (UC) system have led to increases in undocumented student enrollment and a greater number of on-campus resources for this student group than in years past. I connect nested contexts of reception with social and cultural capital theory to show how these college access policies and allocation of resources paved the way for networks of support to develop at UC Beachside. Following the presentation of data and methods, I highlight the benefits and drawbacks that networks of support provided for undocumented students at UC Beachside. I conclude by shedding light on how these university-based institutional support can aid the socioemotional well-being of undocumented students, how universities can strengthen these established resources, and the limitations of these resources in the context of a larger hostile sociopolitical climate.

Literature Review

Undocumented Students in the United States

In the United States, there are more than 450,000 undocumented students, representing about 2 percent of the student population in higher education (Feldblum et al. 2020). Matriculation into higher education continues to be a challenge for undocumented students because they cannot receive federal financial aid, in-state tuition in some states, social services, and scholarships that require citizenship (Gonzales 2016; Gonzales and Chavez 2012). ³ On top of this, undocumented students also face obstacles that hinder their social and economic inclusion, including the inability to vote, access to driver’s licenses in some states, precarity regarding DACA protections, ⁴ and threats of deportation and family separation (Gonzales 2016; Gonzales and Chavez 2012). When considering these factors, it is no surprise that undocumented students report having limited access to financial aid, lack of institutional support, inadequate information about college access and resources, limited employment opportunities, and fears they will not be able to put their degrees to use after graduation (Abrego 2006; Abrego and Gonzales 2010; Enriquez 2011; Gonzales and Chavez 2012; Huber and Malagon 2007; Terriquez 2015).

Although there are no postsecondary protections for undocumented students at the federal level, some states have implemented college access policies to provide (or restrict) undocumented students’ access to higher education. For instance, 18 states have passed legislation to provide undocumented students access to in-state tuition (NCSL 2019). Of those 18 states, 6 states provide state-based financial aid (NCSL 2019). Conversely, states such as Arizona, Georgia, and Indiana prohibit undocumented students from receiving state-based financial aid (NCSL 2019). Alabama and South Carolina have banned undocumented students from even enrolling in any public college or university (NCSL 2019). To this end, the states where undocumented students live can determine whether they can access and fund their postsecondary education.

Conceptual Framework: Nested Contexts of Reception

Golash-Boza and Valdez’s (2018) conceptual framework nested context of reception is useful in capturing how undocumented students’ experiences are affected by governmental policies, societal reception, and involvement in educational institutions. This framework highlights how the federal, state, and local contexts can create differential experiences of illegality for undocumented students across the United States. For instance, at the national level, undocumented students have few protections, as they cannot access federal student aid, have no pathway to citizenship, are subject to negative and dehumanizing public rhetoric, and face threats of deportation (Gonzales, Brant, and Roth 2019). State legislation can determine whether undocumented students can access and afford to attend a university. At the local level, when undocumented students attend a university, the institutional policies may (or may not) help create a “welcoming” climate for the undocumented student population. Undocumented students also shape these contexts as they assert their agency and advocate for equitable resources and services on their campuses and beyond. Anchoring this research within the lens of nested contexts of reception helps underscore how California state policies and campus resources work together to shape the experiences of undocumented college students at UC Beachside.

College access policies at the state level, such as in-state tuition and state-based financial aid, are critical for the educational incorporation of undocumented students; however, these policies do not alleviate the barriers undocumented students face once on campus. For instance, undocumented college students frequently struggle to find supportive mentors, cannot access research and volunteer opportunities that require a permanent legal status, experience microaggressions that affect their learning, and report uncertainty about their futures (Enriquez et al. 2019a; Golash-Boza and Valdez 2018; Valdez and Golash-Boza 2020). Undocumented students are also often racialized minorities and first-generation college students, compounding the various inequalities they face on campus and in society (Valdez and Golash-Boza 2020). Thus, it is evident that state-based college access policies do not eradicate the obstacles undocumented students experience once in college.

In response to the growing pressure to support its undocumented student population, some universities have implemented services and programming to support the unique needs of undocumented students. Recent studies report that university-level policies can help undocumented students feel more supported on their campus (Enriquez et al. 2019a; Golash-Boza and Valdez 2018; Valdez and Golash-Boza 2020); however, much less research explores what mechanisms enable these resources to be effective. To understand how university-based undocumented student resources might be helpful for undocumented students, I turn to the literature on social and cultural capital theory. Although past research has used social and cultural capital theory to unveil how undocumented students worked together to share resources and support peers, little work has explored how institutionalized university-based resources may help bolster the capital created by undocumented students.

The Importance of Social and Cultural Capital for Undocumented Students

Several studies show how undocumented students come together to overcome structural constraints and build solidarity with one another (Contreras 2009; Enriquez 2011; Huber and Malagon 2007; Perez et al. 2009, 2010; Suárez-Orozco et al. 2015). In part, undocumented students are forced to rely on one another because they are suspectable to misinformation and frequently come across institutional agents who share unhelpful or misleading advice ([author] et al. 2018; Muñoz 2008; Perez et al. 2010; Pérez and Rodríguez 2011). Undocumented youth may also feel apprehensive to reveal their legal status to others, inadvertently limiting their access to school personnel, counselors, and mentors (Patler 2018). As a result, undocumented students engage in “patchworking” as they pull resources together from other undocumented peers, family members, and teachers to achieve academic success and social support (Enriquez 2011). The networks undocumented students create can be seen as a form of capital within a model of community culture of wealth as undocumented youth learn skills and gain resources to navigate educational institutions that have historically excluded marginalized students (Yosso 2005). Much of this work centers on how undocumented students take it upon themselves to create these social networks. This work also makes clear that undocumented students may face barriers in accessing resources such as advice, institutional knowledge, or skills that are important for navigating higher education. It is unclear if and how universities can structurally facilitate similar networks and knowledge to aid the academic success of undocumented students.

Universities as “Bridges” of Social and Cultural Capital for Undocumented Students

One way universities may be able to help undocumented students on their campus is through financially supporting the established networks by undocumented students and implementing additional resources to generate unique social for the broader undocumented student population. Bourdieu (1985) defined social capital as “the aggregate of the actual or potential resources which are linked to possession of a durable network of more or less institutionalized relationships of mutual acquaintance or recognition” (p. 248), and subsequent research has established that social capital can help actors gain access to resources and information. The strengthening of on-campus networks can facilitate connections between undocumented students and school-based actors such as professors, mentors, librarians, and even possible employers. These connections can also help undocumented students gain important knowledge that can facilitate their mobility in higher education and broader society.

The development of resources can also amplify the transmission of cultural capital among undocumented students. Cultural capital is defined as the objective, embodied, and institutionalized assets that enable social mobility for individuals (Bourdieu 1986). This form of capital is understood to be the noneconomic resources that produce the “know-how” to be successful in various settings. Given that cultural capital can be acquired through social learning at educational institutions, universities can produce resources to help undocumented students develop knowledge that will be useful for them. For instance, universities can develop events that disseminate critical knowledge related to their legal status, workshops to strengthen academic skills, spaces that provide internship and employment guidance, and trained staff that provide general helpful advice. Universities can bolster the academic achievement and overall well-being of undocumented students through social (e.g., resources gained by participation of a network) and cultural (e.g., knowledge and skills used to enable social mobility) capital. Thus, I situate Bourdieu’s (1985, 1986) social and cultural capital theory within Golash-Boza and Valdez’s (2018) nested context of reception framework to understand how the implementation of resources at UC Beachside shaped undocumented students’ experiences on the ground.

Previous research documents how schools play an important role in facilitating social and cultural capital for undocumented students. For instance, Gonzales (2010) argued that the academic success of undocumented students may be related to their connection to teachers or counselors in schools. Positively tracked undocumented students are placed into special programs and advanced courses, giving them access to important social and cultural capital they can use to matriculate into postsecondary education (Gonzales 2010). Adding to this line of work, Enriquez et al. (2019a) found that universities can help improve the educational experiences of students when undocumented student programming is implemented. This programing can help students connect with other undocumented young adults and caring staff members. These studies suggest that schools can be important institutions that structurally facilitate networks to aid the academic success of undocumented students.

Recently, universities have been signaled as important institutional sites that can intervene in state and federal policies to improve the educational experiences of undocumented students (Enriquez, Burciaga et al. 2019; Enriquez, Morales Hernandez et al. 2019; Gildersleeve and Vigil 2015; Katsiaficas et al. 2019; Santellano 2019; Suárez-Orozco et al. 2015). This may be achieved through the implementation of resources and financial support of targeted programming on college campuses. Recent research suggests that hiring staff members, student-led immigrant rights organizations, and concerned faculty members can help undocumented students feel more supported ([author] et al. 2018; Golash-Boza and Valdez 2018). However, as Santellano (2019) pointed out, some undocumented students also feel more skeptical about the ability of their universities to step in if they were experiencing an immigration-related crisis. Taken together, this work necessitates the examination of university-based support within the context of a larger restrictive climate to understand the utility but also limitations of this institutional support.

Context of the Study: An Overview of University-Based Institutional Support at UC Beachside

To understand and contextualize how university-based institutional support for undocumented students at UC Beachside emerged, I provide a background to the development of college access policies for undocumented students in California. I then detail how the UC system affirmed its commitment to undocumented students by way of the Undocumented Student Initiative. The combination of college access policies in California and the Undocumented Student Initiative in the UC system has led to the formation of targeted resources for undocumented students at UC Beachside.

Since 2001, California has implemented college access policies for undocumented students. Assembly Bill 540 provides access to in-state tuition to Californian undocumented students. ⁵ In 2011, the California Dream Act was signed into law, and it provides access to private scholarships, fee waivers for some colleges, and state-based financial aid to undocumented students. DACA recipients in California can also seek out employment and internship opportunities. Those who do not have DACA can access these college-going policies but can experience unique barriers given that they do not have Social Security numbers. The enactment of in-state tuition and the California Dream Act has increased the matriculation of undocumented students and improved their educational attainment once in college (Ngo and Astudillo 2019).

At an institutional level, the UC has implemented systemwide resources for undocumented students. UC president Janet Napolitano created the Undocumented Student Initiative, which includes a range of services for students who faced challenges with their (or their parents’) legal status. To date, nearly $15.4 million have been used to develop resources such as academic counseling, financial assistance, and legal services (UCOP 2019). These services work alongside student activists and on-campus immigrant rights organizations to promote the inclusivity and educational equity of undocumented students. The combination of DACA, college access policies in California, and institutional programming provides undocumented students with a network of support on each campus.

Of the 4,000 undocumented students who attend the UC system, UC Beachside is home to a few hundred undocumented students. ⁶ In the past seven years, undocumented students at UC Beachside have been able to benefit from various resources, namely, youth-led immigrant rights organizations, financial aid, scholarships, hired staff members targeted for undocumented students, a faculty-led task force, academic and professional counseling, special courses for undocumented students, access to the Legal Immigrant Service Center, “know your rights” workshops, trained staff members at key university offices (i.e., the Office of Financial Aid, the Counseling Center, academic and career advising), housing resources, undocumented student support groups, undergraduate-graduate student mentorship programs, free legal support, and a resource center. The combination of student organizers, state-based college access policies, and institutional programming has paved the way for these networks of support to emerge at UC Beachside. These resources and networks have increased over the years and are a result of undocumented student-led activism and committed educators.

Data and Methods

In the present study I explore how the implementation of university-based undocumented student resources shape the educational experiences of undocumented students who attend UC Beachside. The project is guided by the following research questions:

1. In what ways do undocumented student resources at UC Beachside support undocumented college students?

2. Given that undocumented college students are nested under ambiguous federal, state, and local contexts, what are the strengths and limitations of the resources at UC Beachside?

To address these research questions, I draw on two sets of in-depth interviews with 55 undocumented young adults who attended college in southern California. I conducted the first set of interviews (n = 30) between July and November 2016 as part of my DACAmented Student Experiences Project. These interviews were primarily conducted before Donald J. Trump’s election and were conducted to examine the impact of DACA on undocumented students. I conducted the next set of interviews (n = 25) between December 2018 and February 2020 as part of a second larger project. The second set of interviews with new respondents allowed me to capture how the increase in institutional resources (i.e., development of a resource center, increased programming, implementation of graduate-undergraduate mentorship programs, and centralized support groups) affected undocumented students at UC Beachside at a time of increasing xenophobia. Combining data from 2016 and 2018–2020 is useful in exploring the impact of the UC Office of the President’s Undocumented Student Initiative on undocumented students’ educational experiences over time.

The study took place in southern California, home to the second largest concentration of undocumented immigrants in the United States (Passel and Cohn 2019). Respondents grew up in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, and San Diego counties. All but a few respondents emigrated from Mexico. Because most migrated as children, few had detailed recollections of life in their countries of origin. Participants ranged in age from 18 to 26 years. Fifty of the 55 participants had DACA. Women are slightly overrepresented; 32 agreed to participate (compared with 23 men). Most participants reported financial insecurity during their childhood due to their parents’ undocumented (non-DACA) status.

I recruited through snowball sampling. I connected with individuals and gatekeepers among my contacts, who then connected me with members of the undocumented community in southern California. My participation in various immigrant rights organizations as a graduate student allowed me to connect with DACAmented students on campus. I shared my study’s objectives with potential respondents, and 20 individuals agreed to participate and share my study with their networks. Interested students received information about why I created the study, my intended goals for the project, and my connection to the issues in the interview guide (and larger project). Institutional review board approval was secured at my home institution. Each respondent received a $20 cash incentive for the interview.

Interviews ranged from one to three hours in length. The interviews took place in a setting that was most comfortable for the participants. This ranged from parks, homes, coffee shops, and on campus. Interview contexts were largely influenced by the political climate of the time. In 2016, when the first round of interviews took place, Donald Trump was the Republican nominee. The interview guide focused on participants’ experiences as undocumented students, namely, their migration history, how they got to college, family life, and expectations for the future. However, students spent a large portion of the interview detailing their fears and anxieties about a Trump presidency and what that would mean for their families. The second set of interviews occurred in 2018 through 2020, during the Trump presidency. These interviews covered topics such as family relationships, educational experiences, and how their legal status affected their lives. Interviewees primarily discussed how they benefited from resources at their university. Some students discussed their own involvement in programing and advancing established services. The focus on university-based resources is not to undermine the important efforts made by undocumented students for equitable education. Rather, the focus is to understand the role of the university in meeting the needs of undocumented students. All interviews were digitally recorded, transcribed, and coded in NVivo 12 qualitative data software.

I drew on Weiss’s (1994) four-step analytic processes to conduct an issue-focused analysis with the transcribed interview data. To start, I conducted open coding of data to develop preliminary concepts. Interview memos also helped supplement these early concepts, as they often included reflections and early critical analysis of interviews (Gubrium and Holstein 2001). Second, as part of the sorting stage, I organized themes that emerged in the data (Weiss 1994). For instance, I highlighted open-coded material that mentioned “networks,” “sharing resources,” “programming at school,” and “learning information for or about their status.” These broad codes were then sorted and recoded into systemic categories: (1) what did undocumented students learn, (2) how did students learn the information, and (3) why was this information useful. Third, I summarized these codes to flesh out the mechanisms that shape the integration patterns (Weiss 1994). During this stage, I identified how these networks of support shaped the educational experiences of undocumented students at UC Beachside. Last, in the inclusive integration state, I connected the codes together to develop a cohesive story with a clear argument (Weiss 1994). This final stage helped me establish how university-based institutional support helped undocumented students at UC Beachside’s sense of belonging, learning immigration legislation, and sharing resources to those outside of campus. I also identified the strengths and limitations of this support.

Results

Drawing on 55 in-depth interviews with undocumented college students at UC Beachside, I find that institutional resources and targeted programming support undocumented students in three ways: (1) learning and decoding immigrant legislation, (2) creating community and increasing their sense of belonging, and (3) allowing students to learn legal information they can share with their families. First, these resources provided an opportunity for undocumented students to learn information about immigration laws and policies that affect them and their families. Students learned the intricacies of new policies, changes to existing immigration policies, legislation aimed to harm the undocumented community, and their constitutional rights. Next, these resources provided students with the ability to create a community on campus and develop an increased sense of belonging through programming, workshops, housing, and a resource center. Last, the university-based support helped undocumented students engage in family-oriented safety planning. Undocumented students used the information they learned in these networks and shared it back to their families to protect and empower their loved ones. Results also demonstrated that those heavily involved in programming and/or immigrant rights organizations had numerous ways of receiving support and could access resources with relative ease. However, those who had weaker ties to these networks of support could only tap into a few resources.

Learning and Decoding Immigration Legislation

University-based institutional support provided material support for undocumented college students to learn more information about immigration legislation, up-to-date details on policies that are targeted for undocumented immigrants, and access to reliable legal counsel. These spaces of support are crucial for undocumented immigrants because it allowed them to learn information about their legal and constitutional rights, particularly as the Trump administration created numerous changes to immigration policies. Understanding their rights allows undocumented youth to assert their power and fight back against draconian policies that serve to dehumanize and punish undocumented immigrants.

“Know your rights” workshops are educational forums used to inform undocumented immigrants about their constitutional rights, what to do if pulled over by a police officer or an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent, and up-to-date policies on immigrant legislation at the local, state, and federal levels. These workshops are easily accessible for students on campus and can be put on by student organizers or staff members. Fernanda Salgado, for instance, goes to as many “know your rights” workshops as possible to stay informed on what is going on to help out her family members: “I always go to know your rights meetings at school. I try to go so I can inform them [my parents].” These workshops also help students connect with other on-campus resources if they have questions about individual or family-specific situations.

Like Fernanda, Daniela also frequently attended “know your rights” workshops but often still had lingering questions that required more in-depth discussions. For instance, with respect to Assembly Bill 60, which provides Californian residents regardless of immigration status access to IDs and driver’s licenses, Daniela had several questions about whether her parents would be eligible for the new policy. She did not have too much information on the newly announced policy and wanted to ensure that she knew the details of Assembly Bill 60. She wanted as much information about this policy so that she could guide her parents in the right (and safe) direction. She turned to UC Beachside’s undocumented staff coordinator to ask more detailed questions about the application process and if it was safe to apply:

They [family members] just wanted to know what happens, and then I reached [out] to Nancy [undocumented staff coordinator]. I can do my own research, but it’s hard because the laws are strict. There are instances where like this could happen and that could happen. Nancy is a great resource for that. She knows a lot more cause she knows a lot more specific, individual stories. When they have questions like that, they tell me and I just try to investigate [by asking Nancy].

Both “know your rights” workshops and undocumented student program staff members are vital components of undocumented students’ network of support because they help undocumented students develop and sustain legal literacy. Possessing this legal capital helps undocumented students make informed decisions about what policies are relatively safe, which can influence whether they chose to apply. These networks serve to support undocumented students while they navigate the complexities rooted in laws and policies.

Immigration law can be incredibly complicated because there are various pathways and roadblocks to lawful legalization. Most of the respondents entered the United States at a young age through entry without inspection, making it difficult for them to adjust their status. At the time of our interview, Cindy was a first-year college student who just received DACA. Trump had been recently elected to office, and Cindy was looking into the possibility of adjusting her status with the help of her citizen partner. She frequently attended many “undocumented meetings” on campus and heard about advanced parole (AP), a temporary travel authorization for qualified foreign nationals. Partaking in AP could make her eligible to qualify for status adjustment upon her return (Graber and Magaña-Salgado 2016):

One of the earliest most impactful [things I learned] was advanced parole. When I found out, that was the first thing I did when I got home. I was like hey, “Did you know about this and this?” They were like “What?!”

Cindy felt mixed about applying for AP, especially under the presidency of Trump. Her mother and other family members encouraged her to apply in hopes that she could possibly adjust her status:

My mom’s like, “You should do it!” The way she sees it, is like doors have been opened, and I can [get papers]. She’s ecstatic. She’s like, “Oh you can do anything now!” And, just like, “No, that’s not really how it works. There is more to it.” She really wants me to leave, most of my family wants me to leave, but I’m more scared. I don’t know if I want to risk it [not being able to come back].

Attending meetings for undocumented student organizations on campus allowed many undocumented students to learn about policies or legislation, like Cindy learning about AP, that they were not previously aware of. Although her involvement in undocumented student programing was useful in learning about immigrant legislation, these resources operated within an exclusionary federal context that aimed to punish undocumented immigrants. Cindy’s access to these networks helped her realize that she could use AP as a way to have a lawful point of entry in her records; however, the anti-immigrant climate under Trump complicated her choice to request AP. Her fears of not being able to return to the United States made her ultimately decide that it was best to not apply for AP, with the hope that comprehensive immigration reform would be in her future.

Sense of Belonging and Creating Community

University-based resources provide socioemotional support for undocumented college students. Undocumented students face unique barriers because their legal status limits their access to resources and opportunities that are available to their U.S.-born citizen counterparts. For instance, undocumented students do not qualify for the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, cannot access volunteer or work opportunities that require a Social Security number or citizenship status, and face threats of deportation. The culmination of these barriers, on top of their student responsibilities, can be quite overwhelming for undocumented students. These networks are important because they provide undocumented students with a space to share their struggles and create a community on their college campus.

Disclosing one’s undocumented status is a difficult decision to make for undocumented students because it requires sharing a potentially compromising, intimate detail of their personhood. Like many of the respondents, Allie shared how she was reserved about sharing her status with others in high school. She tried to figure out how to attend and finance college as an undocumented student on her own through Web searches. Navigating this on her own led her to decide to apply to the UC Dream Loan Program, which she now regrets:

I didn’t have enough financial literacy to know that we could have made this work and not taken out a $4,000 loan. But at the time it was just the easier thing. I’m still trying to figure out how to pay now. I just took the easy way out, but that’s because I didn’t know, how am I supposed to choose?

The Dream Loan Program was developed for undocumented UC students to access loans to supplement their financial packages. This can become a slippery slope for many undocumented students, as they find themselves with immediate financial relief but with few options to pay this money back. Undocumented students are likely to come from families of low socioeconomic backgrounds, face difficulties in the labor market, and come to terms with the possibility of DACA being eliminated (Gonzales et al. 2019). Allie’s story is similar to others who try to navigate it all on their own.

Once Allie started her fall term at UC Beachside, she was blown away by the student activism and found herself taken aback by all the resources on her campus:

Allie:

Once I came here, I remember talking to Nancy. She’s like, “Oh, we have a program. It’s called Dreamers Student Success. You should apply!” I’m like, “Yes, perfect.” I also went to a social and everyone was just so outspoken [about their status]. I couldn’t believe it, I was like, “What is this” Wow, this is neat. Like people are taking pride [in their legal status].

Author:

And it must have felt different than high school?

Allie:

Oh yes! I mean the community itself is tiny. There are not that many of us [undocumented students]. But I never really felt it like that. But I feel like it wasn’t the population, but it was just the new space for me. It was just like wow; I didn’t know this was something that people talked about just like nothing. [This student] always talked so unapologetic! I remember sometimes being like, “Okay, can you calm down? People are listening.” [Laughs] But no, she was just like whatever. I was like okay, and then I met other students like me and I was like, “Oh my God.” I was so excited!

Her connection to undocumented students who were “out” about their status, the undocumented staff coordinator, and her participation in the Dreamers Student Success Program allowed Allie to take pride in her status and have a centralized network of people with whom she could discuss issues related to her immigration status. These networks and sources of support can have important implications for undocumented students’ academic success.

Not only did these networks provide socioemotional relief for undocumented students, but they were also materially beneficial. For instance, at the time of our interview, Chris was struggling to balance his job and academic responsibilities. He mentioned to a close friend that he did not have enough money to cover the $495 DACA expenses. Luckily, one of his friends had shared information about a DACA renewal clinic at the Undocumented Student Center:

I was working last quarter and I used some of that money to help them pay the gas or the water bill. Then my DACA expenses [sigh]. I told him [his friend Uriel], “and my DACA’s expiring!” . . . I remember my mom said, “Give us a couple months just to get some money.” I said, “No, don’t worry. There’s a renewal clinic that I took advantage of.” I’m grateful that [Uriel] shared that with me and the Undocumented Student Center for helping me.

Financially contributing to household bills, even when young adults move away from home, is a common practice for children of immigrants (Vallejo 2012). However, undocumented children of immigrants face additional barriers when sending money back home because their employment opportunities are much more restricted than those of U.S.-born citizens. Nonetheless, his friend’s referral to the Undocumented Student Center’s DACA Renewal Clinic helped Chris and his family cover the excessive DACA fees. These networks of support provide an opportunity for undocumented students to gain support in both tangible and intangible ways.

Sharing Resources with Loved Ones

University-based institutional support is primarily targeted to undocumented students; however, the resources often “trickled down” to parents and extended family members. Undocumented students used these resource networks to develop family-oriented safety planning with loved ones. This work aligns with previous work arguing that undocumented college students engage in legal brokering whereby students share resources with their family members, who have limited and/or restricted access to such information (Delgado).

When Ellie attended “know your rights” workshops on her campus, she began to realize how useful this information could be for her parents. Networks of support were tied to college campuses, which can exclude a large portion of the undocumented community. Undocumented students realize these discrepancies and transfer the resources and information they learn to their parents. Ellie explains how she thinks of her friends and family who do not have access to these spaces when she attends the workshops:

Author:

You share these resources [you learn about on campus]?

Ellie:

Yeah. I think it’s just because, in a sense, we’re given more opportunities than they are, so then, these opportunities, or these workshops are tailored to these opportunities, but then, almost like the students get curious, like oh, what about my friends? What can they do? So, the workshops, they almost form into not so much just for students, but students, parents, grandparents, whatever. So, it [the resources] kind of expands out almost.

Respondents were keenly aware of how their status as students in the UC system provided them access to particular legal capital and resources that were unavailable to other members of the larger undocumented community. They leveraged their access to these networks to inform their parents or friends of information they could benefit from. Students also encouraged the organizers of workshops to include sharable information or flyers they could pass on to loved ones outside UC Beachside. Their encouragement steered the organizers (often fellow undocumented students themselves) to incorporate information pertinent to parents into their workshops. Brokering this legal information to loved ones allowed undocumented youth to take preventive measures against the legal violence they experience from state powers (Menjívar and Abrego 2012).

University-based institutional support allowed undocumented youth to engage in safety planning in two ways. First, students learned about how to protect themselves or loved ones from possible Immigration and Customs Enforcement or police encounters. Similar to Fernanda and Ellie, who attend “know your rights” workshops, undocumented youth shared tips on how to navigate police interactions and teach loved ones about their rights. Second, these networks provided unique capital on how to circumvent restrictive immigrant and employment policies. For instance, Jenny Perez attended a conference for undocumented students in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics). She learned how undocumented immigrants can create their own businesses and become independent contractors:

Jenny:

I attended a STEM conference for undocumented students and I learned about how to make your own business as an undocumented person and how people thrive doing that. You can just become a private contractor. So, I shared that with my dad because he was thinking about making a private construction company. I told him, “You could do this, Dad, if you want to. I could maybe get a minor in accounting and I could help you.” So I brought that [information] home to them.

Author:

What was his reaction?

Jenny

: He was kind of hopeful like, “Maybe that’s something I could do later on and bring more stability to my family.” But he also said it’s a lot of work and he was also happy but overwhelmed.

Author:

In that STEM conference, did you hear about it through school? Is that how you heard about it?

Jenny:

Yeah, I heard about it through someone who actually was a private contractor. Someone who had a business. It was like a panel.

Undocumented immigrants face numerous barriers in the labor market. For instance, without Social Security numbers, undocumented immigrants are more likely to be funneled into the low-wage labor market and face workplace exploitation (Gleeson 2010). Respondents not only focused on sharing resources that included possible detention and deportation. Family safety planning often also encompassed brokering resources to loved ones on how to navigate day-to-day forms of exploitation. In all, these networks gave undocumented students the capital to serve as legal brokers to their friends, family, and other loved ones (Delgado 2020).

Limitations of University-Based Institutional Support

With the implementation of DACA, numerous studies have sought to understand its impact on the recipients and their families. However, much less attention has been dedicated to those undocumented college students who were left out of the DACA program. Only a few students in my sample did not possess DACA; however, their stories made it clear how the lack of a work permit complicated their lives. Even in the presence of programs and support networks, those without DACA struggled to find job-related experiences and felt “othered” by the assumption that all undocumented college students held work permits.

Campus internships or work programs that required a Social Security number inadvertently excluded undocumented students who did not have DACA. For instance, Carissa shared with me how it was “difficult it was to find a job on campus.” As a graduating senior, she feared not being able to put her degree to use after her graduation. During our interview she shared with me a recent conversation she had with her father about this issue:

My dad has a job and he doesn’t have papers. They feel like, “Oh just get some fake papers and work.” At least for me, about to be a college graduate, I feel like the only jobs that I can do are lower-paying jobs. What’s the whole point going to college and working my ass off for me to end up like doing the same stuff that my parents do?

Carissa’s father tried to provide some words of encouragement to help her see that getting a job while being undocumented was still possible. However, Carissa did not want those types of jobs. She wanted to apply to jobs she felt prepared for, given her college education. Carissa was well connected with other undocumented students and even held a leadership position with one of the undocumented student organizations on campus. Her involvement on campus helped her learn of some employment options such as becoming an independent contractor. With her graduation looming around the corner, she was unsure of what the future would look like for her. These concerns also point to the limitations of university-based institutional support as students graduate and leave these resources behind.

Although Carissa may have been excluded from accessing various types of jobs, resources within the undocumented student networks did not always require Social Security numbers. In fact, there was a great intention to develop resources that all undocumented students (regardless of DACA status) could apply and participate in. Take Liz as an example. When discussing her experience as a non-DACA holder, she still felt empowered that she could share the information she learned at school with her parents.

Liz:

I feel like I have more resources I can bring to my family

Author:

Like what?

Liz:

I guess with the legal stuff. I have not used it yet but I feel like if we ever need any legal immigration services, I could provide that. Because I’m a UC Beachside student, I’m offered that opportunity that I could provide for my family.

Liz highlighted that she was able to access her campus’s Immigration Legal Services. Although she has not had to use them, she felt this was a resource to her family. Earlier in our interview, she mentioned that her family had discussed the possibility of one day petitioning for her undocumented parents through her 9-year-old U.S. citizen brother, but it was a long wait until then. The presence of the resources was comforting, but the timing was not ideal for Liz’s family. If Liz’s younger brother were at least 21 years old, her family could have asked about petitioning options at Immigration Legal Services.

Another limitation of this university-based support was its exclusivity to UC Beachside college students who lived on campus and could access the resources with relative ease. Building on the previous section above (“Sharing Resources with Loved Ones”), students frequently observed that the information shared in these networks could be useful for their parents or loved ones. One student shared that attending UC Beachside provided her with more readily accessible information about her status:

[Since starting undergrad] I’m more aware. Oh, like I’ll get e-mails [about events] Sometimes I’ll share it like, “Oh, look, I found out this.” But I feel like my parents know everything. So, I guess like I provide a little bit more information to them. . . . They tell me, “It’s for you to help yourself and then if you find information throughout the way, like, let us know.”

Here, Delani points out how students are afforded more resources than other undocumented groups (such as their parents). As Negrón-Gonzales Abrego, and Coll (2015) pointed out, frames of deservingness depict undocumented youth as innocent children who are deemed worthy of an education and resources because they entered the United States through no fault of their own. However, Delani and other students actively push back against these ideologies and do their part in broadening the reach of this knowledge. Yet it is important to note that the resources shared are filtered through the UC Beachside undocumented students. In other words, students shared only what they deemed important and necessary. These resources are tied to highly educated undocumented students attending specific universities, limiting their reachability to other undocumented immigrant populations such as first-generation undocumented immigrants and undocumented youth who did not attend college or UC Beachside.

Discussion

The present study demonstrated the important role universities can play in improving the educational and social well-being of undocumented students. Drawing on the case study of university-based institutional support at UC Beachside, targeted resources and programming for undocumented college students helped them feel more supported and provided them the tools to learn how to manage the uncertainty of their precarious immigration status. First, these networks helped students learn and decode immigration policies and legislation. Immigration law is often convoluted, and these networks helped undocumented students understand policies that affect them and their families. Second, these networks helped undocumented students build community and increase their sense of belonging on campus. Having a centralized resource center, programing, and dedicated staff members helped undocumented youth connect with other peers and with dedicated staff that provided socioemotional support. This finding aligns with previous research that highlights how historically marginalized students activate social and cultural capital on campus to succeed in educational contexts and in society (Brooms 2020). Last, these networks helped undocumented students gain legal capital that they then shared with their loved ones outside of UC Beachside, producing “positive spillover effects” among the young adults and their families. University-based institutional support served as a form of social and cultural capital that provided undocumented students at UC Beachside the ability to manage the barriers of their status through peer support, material resources, and empowerment programming.

This study addresses an important and relevant social problem: what role do universities play in mediating immigrant illegality for undocumented immigrants? In addressing this, I make a number of contributions. First, this study extends existing research on how restrictive and accommodating contexts can shape immigrant illegality (Golash-Boza and Valdez 2018). In addition to subnational contexts, I find that universities too can play a role in shaping how undocumented young adults learn and negotiate barriers with their illegality. Second, I find that universities shape the legal socialization of undocumented college students. Events and programming were geared toward not only providing academic resources but also equipping students with the legal knowledge necessary to protect themselves against draconian immigration policies. Last, exploring the role of educational institutions (with national and subnational contexts) demonstrates how universities can reproduce unequal channels of resources and information for members of the undocumented community. Even in a “proimmigrant” state such as California, undocumented immigrants face barriers to postsecondary education and most are likely to attend community colleges or the California State University system. Universities within the UC system (such as UC Beachside) can serve as models of how to provide tangible support but also should seriously consider how these resources contribute to knowledge and resource gaps within the undocumented immigrant community.

The findings align with previous scholarship highlighting how universities can mediate the consequences of illegality for undocumented students by implementing support programs for academic engagement and professional development (Enriquez, Burciaga et al. 2019; Enriquez, Morales Hernandez et al. 2019; Gildersleeve and Vigil 2015; Golash-Boza and Valdez 2018; Katsiaficas et al. 2019; Santellano 2019; Suárez-Orozco et al. 2015). I contribute to this work by finding that targeted programming, peer support, resource centers, and student-led immigrant rights organizations create networks of support. In creating and expanding these resources, universities should work alongside undocumented students to identify the needs of students and implement resources that will enable their educational goals. This includes ensuring that diverse members within the undocumented community feel recognized and supported (i.e., undocumented Asian American, undocumented Black, Undocuqueer, non-DACA, etc.).

It is important to note that the findings of this study may differ by institutional and state context. The combination of college access policies in California and institutional resources at UC Beachside provides a unique set of opportunities for students who attended this university. It is possible that colleges with limited resources may not be able to support its undocumented student population to the same degree as a school from the UC system. Even within the UC system, universities may differ in resource availability. Hostile state contexts, such as Georgia, may force undocumented students to engage in “patchworking” more than those who have resources readily available. More research is required to understand how contexts shape resource development and its impact on undocumented college students.

University-based institutional support cannot overturn federal immigration legislation that aims to harm undocumented students and their families; rather, these networks serve as a channel of information and resources to help undocumented students navigate the barriers of their immigration status. The results demonstrate the powerful role universities can play in supporting its undocumented student population. Programing, services, workshops, and groups of supportive peers and educators helped students navigate unique immigration status–related issues during their undergraduate journeys. In some cases, loved ones who did not attend UC Beachside were also able to indirectly benefit from these resources. Establishing the importance of these networks of support can help university stakeholders understand that targeted resources aimed at addressing the specific needs of undocumented students can bolster their academic success and well-being. Although the existing resources available at UC Beachside were helpful for undocumented students, it is clear that more must be done to support the well-being and academic success of undocumented students.

Conclusion

Immigration laws and policies have become more difficult to understand and keep pace with during the Trump administration. The Trump administration made a record number of changes to immigration-related policies, including more than 400 executive actions addressing items such as visa processes, refugee resettlement, DACA, and border and interior enforcement (Peirce and Bolter 2020). This article demonstrates that universities cannot undo harmful legislation from the federal government; however, universities can step in to provide resources and programming to help inform undocumented students of legislation, develop safety plans, and facilitate connections with supportive peers and allies. The benefits of these networks can also spill over onto relatives, as undocumented students are likely to share the information they learn with loved ones.

As draconian immigration policies continue to pervade the lives of immigrants, universities can play an important role in providing support and targeted resources for their undocumented student population. Universities can operate alongside federal and state immigration policies to influence the experiences of undocumented college students. However, it is important to recognize that universities have a limited capacity in mediating the negative consequences of contemporary immigration laws. University-based institutional support does not provide a solution to the structural challenges faced by undocumented immigrants; however, further strengthening these networks can help buffer students’ experience with illegality. Ultimately, only comprehensive federal immigration reform can provide relief for undocumented immigrants. The Trump administration’73 termination of DACA in 2017 halted new applications for DACA. The 2021 court case of The State of Texas v. The United States of America issued an injunction that complicates the application process for current DACA recipients and first-time applicants. The termination and recent injunction have resulted in only a small number of DACA approvals in the last five years (Gonzales 2022).