Undocumented Students

Undocumented students are often excluded from the discourse on student diversity in education. According to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, 11.7 million undocumented immigrants live in the United States, and approximately 1.7 million are youths below the age of 18. As these adolescents come of age, 65,000 graduate from high school, and approximately 10,000 to 13,000 continue on to higher education each year. Undocumented students are immigrants who are not U.S. citizens or permanent residents and do not hold a nonimmigrant or immigrant visa or have overstayed their visas and become out-of-status. Most undocumented youth entered the United States before school age and completed their K–12 education in the United States. Thus, few have ties to their country of birth, and most intend to ...