{"id":13778,"date":"2014-10-01T20:47:21","date_gmt":"2014-10-02T01:47:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/?p=13778"},"modified":"2023-05-10T16:05:01","modified_gmt":"2023-05-10T21:05:01","slug":"professor-documents-lives-of-the-undocumented","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/professor-documents-lives-of-the-undocumented\/","title":{"rendered":"Professor documents lives of the undocumented"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Munoz_j1\"<\/a>
Susana Mu\u00f1oz,<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Some college students are living their lives two years at a time.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the challenge for undocumented young people who have achieved legal status in the U.S. because of DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals), which gives those brought to the U.S. illegally as children certain protections and opportunities.<\/p>\n

At the same time, their status is still uncertain, says Susana Mu\u00f1oz, assistant professor in UWM\u2019s School of Education, who studies the issues surrounding these young people.<\/p>\n

DACA is \u201cdouble-edged,\u201d says Mu\u00f1oz. Launched by the Obama administration in 2012, DACA allows these young people to remain in the U.S. temporarily with a two-year renewable status as long as they meet age, education and residency requirements.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt gives young people some liberties,\u201d she says. \u201cIt allows them to work and go to school legally, and they\u2019re able to find employment. On the other hand, you\u2019re living your life in two-year increments and that\u2019s emotionally exhausting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mu\u00f1oz began focusing her research and writing on the lives of undocumented young people after trying to help a young Mexican-American student.<\/p>\n

Mu\u00f1oz was working in a program for low-income and first-generation students and discovered that this student was undocumented. Mu\u00f1oz realized that helping the student within working hours might jeopardize the federal funding of her program, so she offered to meet with the student at an off-campus location during her lunch hour. The student never showed up.<\/p>\n

\"Munoz_j2\"<\/a>\u201cThis bothered me immensely,\u201d says Mu\u00f1oz, a U.S. citizen who came here with her family at age 6 and speaks fluent Spanish. \u201cYet, perhaps this student felt unsafe to see me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Starting with her dissertation at Iowa State University six years ago, Mu\u00f1oz began looking at the factors that held back these undocumented students as well as the supports and attitudes that helped them succeed.<\/p>\n

Her work has focused on identity issues that undocumented students face, how colleges and universities deal with these students, and on students who are \u201ccoming out of the shadows\u201d to advocate for changes to immigration policy.<\/p>\n

She recently completed a book on the journeys of these \u201cundocumented and unafraid\u201d young people and their impact on higher education. The book, scheduled for publication this spring, focuses on how these students see themselves and how their status affects their activism.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re fighting a system that doesn\u2019t see them as legally present in the U.S.,\u201d says Mu\u00f1oz.<\/p>\n

She has also recently published a paper in Teachers College Record, a journal published by Columbia University, on Georgia\u2019s Freedom University.<\/p>\n

\"Artwork\"<\/a>
A painting by Claudia Ramirez, a graduate student at San Diego State University, depicts the plight of undocumented students trying to obtain their education. Mu\u00f1oz received the painting as the 2012 Outstanding Faculty Award winner at the 2012 Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education conference.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Freedom University in Athens, Georgia was started by University of Georgia faculty members in response to a 2011 policy enacted by the Georgia Board of Regents that denied qualified students without documentation access to five selective state institutions of higher education. Freedom University offered these students a chance to continue their education for learning, though not for credit.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt (Freedom University) is a form of civil disobedience for faulty and empowerment for undocumented students,\u201d says Mu\u00f1oz. \u201cThey are not getting a college degree, but the mere fact they are coming to learn shows the importance of education to them.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Georgia Regents\u2019 action, in a state with only a few hundred potential undocumented students, illustrates the complex politics surrounding immigration, says Mu\u00f1oz.<\/p>\n

Some anti-immigration politicians are also blaming DACA and its alleged \u201cfree work permits\u201d for the influx of unaccompanied children coming across the U.S. border from Central America. These children don\u2019t qualify for DACA or work permits and are often fleeing violence in their home countries, says Mu\u00f1oz. In addition, research shows that unaccompanied minors seeking refugee status from Central America have been crossing the borders since the 1980s, says Mu\u00f1oz.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are children and we are sending them back to a life on the run or to face death squads. Would we be doing this if they were Canadian children?\u201d<\/p>\n

While she is cautiously optimistic that further executive orders may help the status of undocumented young people, she\u2019s discouraged about Congress\u2019s inability to act. \u201cWe have band-aid solutions, not real reform.\u201d<\/p>\n

DACA has helped those who\u2019ve lived in the U.S. since childhood somewhat, according to Mu\u00f1oz, but many young people still face challenges in pursuing education if they are not citizens. For example, they don\u2019t have access to federal student loan programs and only 20 states allow them in-state tuition. In many states, they aren\u2019t allowed to apply for driver\u2019s licenses, and if they do drive illegally, they may be faced with jail time or deportation.<\/p>\n

Getting a DACA card can be challenging also.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have to be a certain age to apply, and they need documentation demonstrating continuous presence in the U.S.\u2013 either school records or receipts.<\/p>\n

Then they have to retrieve these records,\u201d says Mu\u00f1oz. \u201cThere is a $465 fee, and then they have to reapply — and pay the fee again in two years. That\u2019s a lot of money for people with limited financial resources.\u201d<\/p>\n

As one young person told her of the DACA card: \u201cI tasted my DACA card and it didn\u2019t taste like freedom.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Undocumented college students who have achieved legal status in the U.S. because of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival are living their lives two years at a time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40008,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","uwm_wg_additional_authors":[]},"categories":[175],"tags":[],"section":[],"display_categories":[],"related-coverage":[],"uwmnews-feed":[347,148],"class_list":["post-13778","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-research","uwmnews-feed-community-engagement-professions","uwmnews-feed-education"],"yoast_head":"\nProfessor documents lives of the undocumented<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Undocumented college students who have achieved legal status in the U.S. because of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival are living their lives two years at a time.\" \/>\n<meta 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