Not Just a Latino Issue: Undocumented Students in Higher Education

Picture an undocumented student, and for most college counselors, it will be the image of a Latino student. However, the reality is that students from many other ethnic groups lack documentation as well. These students hail from everywhere. According to DreamActivist.org, an online resource network for undocumented students, they come from places such as Argentina, Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Ecuador, England, Fiji, France, Ghana, Guatemala, Hungary, Indonesia, Iran, Israel, Lebanon, Mexico, Mongolia, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Senegal, South Korea, Taiwan, Tonga, and Venezuela. According to one of DreamActivist's founders, Prerna, the network has "black dreamies, brown dreamies, yellow dreamies, white dreamies--a rainbow full of dreamies." "Dreamies" refers to students who would benefit from the DREAM Act, a piece of legislation that would provide a path to citizenship for undocumented students who were brought to the US as minors. In this article, the author presents stories of five undocumented students and emphasizes the significant role of counselors in reaching out to this population by making information readily available and maintaining an environment of open dialogue, where no students feel judged.