Fatima Zeferino
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Story DACA

How CSU Supports Undocumented, Mixed-Status Students

Alisia Ruble
8/13/2024

Dream Centers, immigration legal services and more help undocumented students fulfill their personal and professional dreams.

Fatima Zeferino

​Cal State Long Beach Class of 2024 graduate Fatima Zeferino at CSULB's undocumented student graduation celebration. (Photo courtesy Cal State Long Beach/Sean DuFrene)

 

The California State University strives to create a welcoming and supportive environment for all members of its campus communities, and that includes nearly 10,000 undocumented students across the 23 universities—the largest number of undocumented students at any university system in the country. These students contribute to the CSU's vibrant and diverse learning environments, but they face unique challenges on the road to earning a college degree.

To support undocumented students and students from mixed-status families—those who may be a citizen but whose family members are not—and remove barriers to earning a college degree, the CSU provides numerous resources, from grants, loans and scholarships to legal and campus support services, including dedicated Dream Centers with full-time staff.

In addition, the provision of permanent legislative protection support for Dreamers has been a federal CSU priority for several years. Each year during annual “Hill Day" events in Washington, D.C., CSU delegates champion a permanent fix for young undocumented immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as small children, known as Dreamers, many of whom are Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients. The DACA program has enabled hundreds of thousands of undocumented students to work and go to school in the U.S. and make significant contributions to the country.

“Dreamers are among our brightest and most engaged scholars, leaders at every level of our university system and active in volunteerism," says CSU Chancellor Mildred García. “Our state and nation need the gifts of these talented and deserving current and future leaders—as well as their fresh appreciation for and heartfelt belief in the American dream."

“We seek support for our Dreamers and DACA recipients—and those across the country—to honor their humanity, to remove inequitable and unfair barriers that stand between them and the fulfillment of their personal and professional dreams," García says. “That's what the CSU stands for—that's what we do—and at a scale greater than any other university system in the world."

Learn about the myriad ways the CSU supports undocumented and mixed-status students across California.

Dream Centers

In 2014, Cal State Fullerton became the first university in the CSU system to open a “Dreamer" center, the Titan Dreamers Resource Center, dedicated to supporting and uplifting undocumented and mixed-status students, under the leadership of Chancellor García who served as CSUF president from 2012-2018. 

All CSUs have support staff dedicated to assisting undocumented students; however, 19 of them have a dedicated Dream Center with a full-time staff. The CSU Chancellor's Office provides an interactive map on its website with links to all available resources.

These centers provide undocumented and mixed-status students with comprehensive support services, including free immigration legal services, academic and career advising, professional development opportunities, workshops and webinars on immigration topics, and community-building activities. These services are tailored to address these students' unique challenges and contribute to their overall well-being and academic success.

Many centers, like the Chico State Dream Center, provide additional resources like computer labs that include free printing, lounge/study areas and loan/grant programs that help students pay for textbooks and other educational materials.

Staff focus on developing initiatives and programs designed to provide equal access to education for undocumented students, such as workshops on navigating the college application and AB 540 requirements, securing scholarships that don't require citizenship, understanding financial aid options such as the California Dream Act Application, and accessing grant opportunities such as the California Dream Act Service Incentive Grant Program.

Along with supporting dreamers, many centers also provide ally training for faculty and staff to teach them about the immigrant experience, focusing on policies that affect the community and resources they can provide for students. A systemwide training module titled “Becoming an Ally to the Undocumented Community" is also available to CSU employees through the CSU Learn portal.

Dream Center staff also provide holistic support and crisis intervention to students experiencing hardship due to their citizenship status, or that of their family members. During the spring 2024 term, for example, Stanislaus State extended both emotional and educational support to an undocumented student during a time of crisis in which the student was separated from their family due to deportation. Staff members connected the student with Stanislaus State's Counseling and Psychological Services and continually checked on their well-being. They also secured a laptop for the student so they were able to complete remote coursework.

The Stanislaus State team also coordinated additional remote learning opportunities with faculty to ensure the student stayed on track to graduate. With their degree completed by the end of spring 2024, the university team even helped celebrate the student by including their family in the university's Undocu-grad celebration to accept the recognition in person while the student joined via Zoom.

Hear about the positive impact Dream Centers can have on students from Cal State Monterey Bay student Dulce Carmona. Carmona earned a master's degree in education from CSUMB in spring 2024 and will begin an administrative service credential program at CSUMB in the fall.

 

Immigration Legal Services

In March 2019, the California Department of Social Services (CDSS) implemented the California State University Immigration Services Project using a one-time allocation of $7 million in the 2018-19 state budget. Due to the overwhelming impact of the services—as of December 2023, an estimated 21,000 individuals within the CSU have received direct legal services through the project—the funding has become ongoing.

Qualified legal service providers offer free immigration legal services on campus, including education and outreach services, to students, staff, faculty, immediate family members, incoming students and recent alumni who have graduated within two years.

They also help immigrant students and staff understand any potential benefits or remedies they qualify for and empower them with information to navigate the everchanging system of laws and policy.

Barbara Pinto, who co-founded Immigrant Legal Defense (ILD), and oversees the organization's Legal-Education Partnership with the CSU, wrote about the impact of the project in an op-ed for the San Diego Union-Tribune. Pinto, a CSU alumna who was undocumented when she was completing her education at San Francisco State, says many of the students ILD meet with have never had a consultation with an attorney.

“One example is a client who received a screening just weeks before she was turning 21," Pinto wrote. “She had no idea that her father's abandonment of her as a child provided her grounds for immigration relief and a path to citizenship. The program changed her life because she now is a legal resident with a clear future in California, and on her way to finishing her degree."

Conferences and Events

The CSU held its first-ever Undocu Student Summit in March, bringing together more than 250 CSU students from across the state for a series of presentations and breakout sessions. The summit, hosted by Cal State Long Beach, was designed to provide a forum for CSU undocumented and mixed-status students to network, build community, celebrate diversity, create inclusive opportunities and cultivate their leadership skills.

Individual CSUs host similar events for undocumented and mixed-status students and employees. Cal State Monterey Bay hosted its sixth annual Undocu-Success Conference in April, which included CSUMB students, staff and faculty, along with partners from local community colleges.

“The conference played a vital role in ensuring that incoming undocumented students feel welcomed, supported and part of the CSUMB family," said Metelin Bock, CSUMB's undocu-success coordinator. “One of our key accomplishments was supporting local community colleges in ensuring transfer students have the necessary resources to transition to a California State University."

Sonoma State partnered with Santa Rosa Junior College in February to host the Reach for Your Dreams Conference for undocumented high school and college students within Sonoma County and neighboring counties. 

SSU Director of Equity & Access Programs Khou Yang-Vigil said the conference was one of the most significant collaborations between SSU and SRJC and demonstrated the university's commitment to creating equitable solutions for undocumented students. 

"Everyone has a dream. Everyone has a goal. So, regardless of status, we should all have the same opportunity to grow, be nurtured and be our best selves," Yang-Vigil said. “So, let us provide that opportunity for everyone; this is our future out there." 

San Francisco State's Dream Resource Center hosted its inaugural Research to Advance Services & Support for Undocumented Students (RASSUS) Summit in April, the culmination of a semester-long initiative designed to empower students to become ambassadors of knowledge, research and creativity called the RASSUS Fellowship. Students engaged in undocumented student-centered research projects, working closely with a staff/faculty mentor, and presented their findings at the summit.

SF State also hosts an annual Undocumented Student Month of Action in October, which brings together key speakers and presenters to celebrate and inform undocumented students and allies.

Student Perspective

At the heart of every effort to support undocumented and mixed-status students is the drive to honor their humanity, and to enable them to fulfill their personal and professional dreams.

These efforts are to help students like Gerardo “Jerry" Langarica Martinez, an alumnus of Chico State's kinesiology program (with an option in physical education teacher education) who is now enrolled in the university's Teacher Credential program. He arrived at Chico State a first-generation, reentry and undocumented student from a low-income background—a position that comes with many unseen setbacks.

“When you're undocumented, you basically start without any of the help and services that other people get right out of the gate," Langarica Martinez explained.

Thanks to his professors and staff at the Chico State Dream Center, Langarica Martinez became a leader on campus, serving as a volunteer in the university's BE:WEL program, working as a coordinator with the Paradise U Community Project and leading the Division 1 Chico State Men's Volleyball Club team to a 25th-in-the-nation placing at the national championships in Phoenix, Arizona as coach. In recognition of his work, the CSU awarded Langarica Martinez with a 2023 Trustees' Award for Outstanding Achievement.

“I've gotten a lot of resources, and I'm here today because of the team [at Chico State] that supports undocumented students," he said. “I'm really proud to be here. This has allowed me to accomplish a lot of my goals, and a lot of my dreams. I feel very well supported… I love being a part of Chico State."

Langarica Martinez is set to reach a long-held dream of becoming an educator and teaching physical education at a middle school and says his goal “is to create space where students feel like they belong, where they can take up space and know their worth as humans."


Learn more about how the CSU supports undocumented and mixed-status students, and watch the video below to hear how higher education has helped Chico State alumnus Gerardo "Jerry" Langarica Martinez fulfill his dreams.

 


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