Lauren Miller, “The Impact of COVID-19 on Undocumented and DACAmented Students in Higher Education”
Mentor: Dante Salto, Administrative Leadership
Poster #105
This project examines the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the education of immigrants globally. As one of the six participating universities in this global project, we aim to focus on undocumented and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients in higher education. Early studies on the pandemic’s effects have shown that socially vulnerable populations have fared worse than the average. The fear of legal repercussions, limited access to social services and healthcare, and poverty disproportionally affected minoritized and disadvantaged communities and individuals, including migrants. The initial stage of this study included the compilation of publications, media, and institutional and governmental documents. A scoping literature review was used to collect and analyze research indexed in Google Scholar and Web of Science. The literature review aims to understand 1) the impact of COVID-19 on undocumented and DACA recipient students in higher education, 2) how structural and emergent inequalities against racialized and minoritized migrants operate in different educational contexts, and 3) how educational policies and practices can ameliorate those inequalities. The review identified 27 relevant publications. The results highlight two major themes that emerged from the reviewed publications. The most prominent theme was the negative impact of the pandemic on the mental health of undocumented students as they navigated not only the tense political landscape but also now had to juggle the addition of a global pandemic. Another emerging theme was the lack of accessible resources and support for undocumented students in higher education. Undocumented students already had a hard time accessing support in the pre-pandemic world, and the introduction of COVID-19 only exacerbated those struggles. The research conducted contributes to 1) the impact of COVID-19 on undocumented and DACAmented students in higher education and 2) the status of current research on this issue and potential areas of research.