University and Professor Practices to Support DACA and Undocumented Students: DACA Student Experiences, Teacher Knowledge, and University Actions

Jenny Banh,Jelena Radovic-Fanta

doi:10.3390/socsci10090346

Abstract

The United States immigration policy Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) which protects some individuals from deportation was enacted in 2012, phased out in 2017 and is now under court challenges. There are still thousands of DACA students currently in higher education. The article highlights promising practices that professors and universities can put in place to support DACA students in the United States. Several semi-structured interviews were conducted with DACA students and Dream Center Directors in California universities to gauge students’ barriers and bridges to their higher education success. DACA students articulated public policy suggestions that universities and professors can immediately enact and have tangible results. Three themes were revealed in the interview data: the need for teacher knowledge, diversity of DACA student experiences, and for actions. These were explained as (1) knowledge of student’s lives, and, conversely, students’ access to information necessary for navigating college life; (2) the diversity of students’ life stories and experiences of trauma suffered during and after DACA rescinding decision; and (3) actions that should be taken by the faculty, staff, and the university community that would help students succeed academically.

Highlights

Undocumented and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) students in higher education has been an important topic of conversation in universities on how best to address the needs of this student body
Amidst the stories of racism, poverty, and grit that I anticipated, I was introduced to unexpected stories from first-generation minority students who shared that having DACA
Many undocumented students I interviewed highlighted the importance of DACA as an invaluable resource for academic success and, graduation (Wong et al 2017) “After almost failing out of my Economic Major I

Summary

Introduction

Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Undocumented and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) students in higher education has been an important topic of conversation in universities on how best to address the needs of this student body. There are currently over 800,000 undocumented students who have attained Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) status in the United States, which gives them a two-year reprieve from deportation (Bjorklund 2018; Muñoz and Vigil 2018). “There are more than 616,000 current DACA recipients”.

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