Undocumented Students in Higher Education

Over the past 30 years, ineffective immigration policies as well as economic factors have led to an [Page 2215]increase in the undocumented population in the United States to approximately 11.2 million as of 2011. The undocumented population includes approximately 3.2 million children and young adults under the age of 24 who were brought to the United States by their parents when they were very young, often before schooling age. Beginning in 1975, various school districts across the United States tried to ban undocumented children from attending public schools. In 1982, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the case of Plyler v. Doe that undocumented children must be provided access to a public education. Presently, however, court-mandated equal access to education ends for approximately 65,000 to ...