Fighting for the Right to Education: Undocumented Immigrants and Higher Education
This research examines the state regulation and policies governing higher education opportunities for undocumented immigrant children. I researched various present and past policies that have stated that undocumented immigrants should not have the right to higher education. The type of regulations and policies that I examined are the following: Assembly Bill 540, House Bill 1403, DREAM Act, and Section 505 of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigration Responsibility Act of 1996 (IIRIRA). I incorporated how undocumented immigrant student's legal status is defined under the current policies and regulations as well as the relationship with the in-state tuition regulations. My research is an analytical study that investigates the regulations that shadow undocumented immigrants' children that are trying to pursue higher education in the states of California and Texas. The results to this research indicate that many of the undocumented immigrant students are seen as a threat to the American citizens. Also there is much controversy between each state, since each state sets their own requirements to allow undocumented immigrant students the right to higher education with in-state tuition rather than out-states tuition. Finally many children are punished for the un-lawful actions of their parents.
School:
University of California at Irvine
Department:
Sociology
Research Advisor:
James D. Anderson
Department of Research Advisor:
Educational Policy Studies
Year of Publication:
2007