Managing Illegality on Campus: Undocumented and Dacamented College Students in the Era of Trump

Holly E. Reed , CUNY Institute for Demographic Research
Sofya Aptekar, University of Massachusetts, Boston
Amy Hsin, Queens College, City University of New York (CUNY)

The 2016 Presidential election in the U.S. led to many new anti-immigrant and anti-immigration policies, as well as a newly reinvigorated and very public xenophobia. This post-Trump environment has made life especially challenging and dangerous for undocumented immigrants, and even for those immigrants with DACA status. This research examines the impact of the post-Trump policies and environment on a particular group of undocumented immigrants: undocumented and DACAmented students attending the City University of New York, a large, urban, public university with an enrollment of over 250,000 students at over 20 campuses within New York City. We draw upon in-depth qualitative interviews with students, faculty and staff to understand whether and how students' lives were affected by changes in federal immigration and immigrant policies, what changes occurred in the university and campus leadership, outreach, and resources, and whether students and faculty and staff are in agreement about these changes. Based on our findings, we suggest some potential directions for future policies and programs at the federal, state, city, and institutional levels.

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 Presented in Session P3. Poster Session Migration, Economics, Environment, Methods, History and Policy