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Students Without Status: Understanding and Protecting the Rights of Undocumented Immigrant Students

Event, Webinar

Event Details

October 18, 2017

Students Without Status:
Understanding and Protecting the Rights of Undocumented Immigrant Students

Panelists
Jamie Fasteau
, Principal, EducationCounsel
Carlos A. Guevara
, Senior Policy Advisor, Office of Research, Advocacy, and Legislation, UnidosUS
Phillip Lovell, Vice President of Policy Development and Government Relations, Alliance for Excellent Education
Eduardo Mendez, Principal, Guadalupe Centers High School (MO)

On October 18, 2017 the Alliance for Excellent Education held a webinar to discuss The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program which provides work permits and protection from deportation to eligible young unauthorized immigrants. Since its inception in 2012, approximately 800,000 young people have benefited from the program. With the Trump administration’s announcement that the DACA program would be phased out, these young people’s future and the future of the more than 700,000 undocumented students enrolled in K–12 schools across the country are now in jeopardy.  

Supreme Court precedent and federal civil rights laws require states to provide equal access to public education to all children, including those who are undocumented. To ensure that undocumented youth receive an equitable education that prepares them for college and a career, it is imperative that school administrators, educators, and other personnel understand the unique needs of these students and receive high-quality training and support on how to best serve them.

Phillip Lovell, vice president of policy development and government relations at the Alliance; Jamie Fasteau, principal at Education Counsel; Carlos A. Guevara, senior policy advisor at UnidosUS; and Eduardo Mendez, principal of Guadalupe Centers High School (MO) discussed DACA, the rights of undocumented students, and best practices for creating a culturally inclusive school environment. Panelists also addressed questions from online viewers.

Please direct questions concerning the webinar to alliance@all4ed.org. If you are unable to watch the webinar live, an archived version will be available at https://all4ed.org/webinars approximately 1–2 business days after the event airs.

Supplemental Materials


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Photo Courtesy of Allison Shelley/The Verbatim Agency for American Education: Images of Teachers and Students in Action.