The Uncertain Future: How Legal Battles and hostile Policies Are Blocking the Dreams of Undocumented Students
The hopes of a generation of undocumented students in the united States hang in the balance as ongoing legal challenges to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, coupled with increasingly restrictive immigration policies, create a climate of fear and limit access to education and prospect.
“it was almost like the system was taunting me,” said a Cal State University graduate student, who requested his middle name be used for fear of being targeted by immigration authorities. “No matter how you excel, the system always comes back to haunt you, to remind you that you did all of that, and yet you really don’t have a choice.”
A promise of work authorization and deportation protection propelled a generation of undocumented youth out of the shadows when DACA first went into effect in 2012. Though, hundreds of thousands of today’s students are largely excluded due to the protracted legal battle that has effectively frozen new applications as 2017.
The situation has been further exacerbated by the Trump governance’s aggressive immigration enforcement strategies, which have targeted not only DACA recipients but also international students, casting a shadow over higher education for undocumented youth with even fewer protections.
A History of heartbreak
Gaby Pacheco, who was undocumented while in high school and played a key role in organizing efforts that led to the creation of DACA in the 2000s, noted that current undocumented youth are “experiencing the same kind of heartbreaks” and limitations that her generation faced. “It is indeed keeping people chained and, in a sense, locking up their potential and their dreams,” said Pacheco, now president and chief executive of TheDream.US, a scholarship program. She highlighted the significant barriers these students face, including being barred from federal aid, certain scholarships, and work opportunities.
these concerns are not new, but “they feel so much bigger and closer than they ever have before” due to the current hostile immigration climate, according to Corinne Kentor, a senior manager of research and policy at the presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration.
Undocumented youth have long been at the centre of the nation’s immigration debate, resulting in a complex web of legislation that is constantly being challenged in courts nationwide. While DACA survived a legal challenge from President Trump in 2020 – with the Supreme Court ruling his administration did not follow proper procedures to end the program – the legal battles continue.
In a recent ruling, the U.S.5th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld DACA nationwide but would remove work authorization for recipients residing in Texas. Protections would remain unchanged in all other states, and applications could possibly reopen, pending a decision by a lower court on implementation.
Despite these ongoing challenges, legislative efforts to provide a pathway to citizenship continue. Senators Dick durbin (D-Ill.) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) reintroduced the dream Act in early December, the latest in a series of attempts over the past two decades. Concurrently, the current administration is pursuing legal action against California, alleging that the state’s decades-long policy of offering in-state tuition to undocumented students is unlawful, mirroring similar efforts to dismantle tuition equity laws across the contry.
living in Limbo
The uncertainty takes a profound emotional toll. “I feel like my family and I have been tossed into a video game,” said Alex,who arrived in the U.S. with his mother from El Salvador in the early 2000s. “Like the console gets turned on every morning, you know, and it’s a challenge and it’s a game and I’ve got to survive.”
Currently,approximately 80,000 undocumented students are enrolled in higher education in the state,but applications for state financial aid through the California Dream Act have dropped by 15% this academic year,with just over 32,000 applications submitted. This decline, which began in 2018, is attributed to the legal challenges surrounding DACA and growing anxieties about sharing personal information with goverment programs.
According to the Higher Ed immigration Portal, more than half a million undocumented people are enrolled in higher education, but less than 30% qualify for DACA. A significant portion of current high school students, born after 2007, are automatically ineligible due to age requirements.
The average age of the over 500,000 active DACA recipients is 31, with nearly 90% being older than 26. The program’s population has also decreased, as some recipients have adjusted their status through marriage or by having children, explained Javier Carbajal-Ramos, a coordinator for the Dream Resource Center at Los Angeles Valley Collage. “We call them the original undocumented students,” Carbajal-Ramos said. “They’re people that really had an opportunity and they most likely took it. But then, the system changed.”
Alex, who was five years shy of the minimum age requirement when he first became eligible, experienced this shift firsthand. “I grew up feeling silenced, and then there was this period of time where I felt like I could speak and I could take back my voice. … Now, I feel like I’ve been shut up,” he said. “My story is being determined by everybody else except myself. My past, my present and my future are all being negotiated by people who legitimately don’t see humanity in me.”
The gamble of Higher Education
Attending college is a significant risk for undocumented students, with manny opting for immediate employment. those who pursue higher education often demonstrate a strong commitment to learning, driven by their families’ aspirations for social mobility. “My mom’s biggest mistake has always been thinking that there were going to be people on this side of the border who believed in her child just as much as she does,” Alex said.”They’ve done all that they can to continue to believe for me and for themselves that something has to work.”
School provides a sense of “veil of protection” for Alex, and a fear of limited work opportunities motivates him to continue in academia.An education can also provide leverage in legal battles and open doors to opportunities abroad or self-employment, according to Iliana Perez, executive director of Immigrants Rising.
Many institutions are now offering support services and fellowships, often funded through stipends, thanks to the organizing efforts of previous generations of undocumented students. One undocumented college senior secured a paid summer program position through a stipend, while a yearlong academic position, initially offered as an hourly wage (making her ineligible), was ultimately funded through a scholarship. “It wasn’t something that I asked for. They did it themselves. For that, I’m really, really grateful,” she said, requesting anonymity due to her legal status.
Across the state, 161 dream resource centers have been established at campuses, including nearly all community colleges and every Cal State and UC campus, along with 14 private universities. Carbajal-Ramos emphasizes the importance of meeting students where they are and acknowledging the precarious realities they face. “When somebody really tells you that you can’t, you either give up or you fight, right? And we came here because of the fight,” he said. “They have the ganas. They have the drive. It’s my obligation to keep it that way.”
Alex, nearing completion of his master’s degree, hopes to enroll in a PhD program next fall, but the submission process – requiring a five-year academic plan – feels daunting. “I really can’t think about my life for the next five years,” he said. “I can’t even think about my life tonight. The drive home scares me. Coming to campus scares me. Walking from my car terrifies me. I live my life between breaths.”
