Undocumented migration and civil society

This paper investigates a group of unauthorized immigrants in the United States, that of undocumented college students.  Undocumented students are young men and women that were brought by their families to the United States when they were very young. They grew up there, learned English, went to school with their peers, but because of their situation vis-à-vis American immigration laws they had to do so while remaining in the shadow. Notwithstanding these difficulties some of them are now college students with a strong desire to succeed, but their future remains blocked. In my research I investigate how these students navigate their everyday lives in search for a future in the United States. Through semi-structured interviews with a group of 25 undocumented college students I explore how these students interact with civil society at large, how they respond to and interact with different social actors and the kind of survival strategies that they adopt to deal with their liminal visa status and precarious future.